A 11700: Establishes multidisciplinary personnel teams to ensure prompt, coordinated, and confidential sharing of information among professionals for effective identification, assessment, and delivery of housing and supportive services.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 11700  IN ASSEMBLY September 2, 2026 ___________ Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Simone) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Social Services AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing multidisciplinary personnel teams The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Article 3 of the social services law is amended by adding a 2 new title 7-A to read as follows: 3 TITLE 7-A 4 MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSONNEL TEAMS 5 Section 115-d. Findings and declarations. 6 115-e. Definitions. 7 115-f. Authorization to establish multidisciplinary personnel 8 teams. 9 115-g. Information sharing and confidentiality. 10 115-h. Protocols for information sharing and oversight. 11 115-i. Protections and remedies. 12 115-j. Severability. 13 § 115-d. Findings and declarations. 1. The legislature finds that 14 homelessness poses a significant challenge to the health, safety, and 15 welfare of individuals and families in New York state. 16 2. Prompt, coordinated, and confidential sharing of information among 17 professionals is essential to ensuring the effective identification, 18 assessment, and delivery of housing and supportive services. 19 3. It is hereby declared that multidisciplinary personnel teams, 20 composed of appropriately trained professionals, must be empowered to 21 share confidential information for these purposes, notwithstanding any 22 other provision of law. 23 § 115-e. Definitions. As used in this title, the following terms shall 24 have the following meanings: 25 1. "Multidisciplinary personnel team" means any team of two or more 26 professionals trained in the identification, assessment, and linkage of 27 homeless individuals and families to housing and supportive services. 28 Such team may include, but is not limited to: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD16256-01-6 
 A. 11700 2 1 (a) Health care providers, as defined in section eighteen of the 2 public health law; 3 (b) Representatives of law enforcement or probation agencies; 4 (c) Legal counsel; 5 (d) Social services workers; 6 (e) Case managers or coordinators; 7 (f) Veterans services providers; 8 (g) Representatives of domestic violence victim service organizations; 9 (h) School personnel, including teachers or administrative officers; 10 (i) Housing or homeless services representatives; and 11 (j) Data analysts. 12 2. "Confidential information" means any information, whether in writ- 13 ing, electronically, or otherwise, that is designated as confidential 14 under state or federal law or that is exchanged during team communi- 15 cations and meetings and which is protected from disclosure. 16 3. "Homeless" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 17 forty-nine of this chapter. 18 § 115-f. Authorization to establish multidisciplinary personnel teams. 19 1. Notwithstanding any other law, any (a) county outside of a city with 20 a population of one million or more persons in the state or (b) city 21 with a population of one million or more persons in the state, may 22 establish or approve a multidisciplinary personnel team with the purpose 23 of expediting the identification, assessment, and linkage of homeless 24 individuals and families to appropriate housing and supportive services. 25 2. In any county where such team is established, if a city within such 26 county requests participation, the county shall allow appropriate city 27 personnel to join the team, except where such participation would mate- 28 rially hinder the achievement of the team's objectives. 29 § 115-g. Information sharing and confidentiality. 1. Any member of a 30 multidisciplinary personnel team is authorized to disclose and exchange 31 confidential information with other team members for purposes of iden- 32 tification, assessment, and linkage of homeless individuals and families 33 to housing and supportive services notwithstanding any provision of law 34 to the contrary, including but not limited to section sixty-five hundred 35 thirty of the education law. 36 2. A health care provider's use and disclosure of confidential infor- 37 mation for purposes of identification, assessment, and linkage of home- 38 less individuals and families to housing and supportive services shall 39 be treated as part of the health care provider's treatment activities 40 under applicable law. 41 3. Any confidential information shared pursuant to this section shall 42 be treated as strictly confidential. Discussions and records of such 43 communications shall not be admissible as evidence in any judicial, 44 administrative, or other legal proceeding. 45 4. Disclosure and exchange of confidential information may occur via 46 telephonic, electronic, or in-person communication, including through a 47 data sharing platform that is accessible to all members of a multidisci- 48 plinary personnel team, provided that reasonable measures are taken to 49 verify the identity of the individuals involved. 50 § 115-h. Protocols for information sharing and oversight. 1. Each 51 multidisciplinary personnel team shall develop written protocols that 52 include, but are not limited to, provisions for: 53 (a) Identifying the specific information or data elements to be 54 shared, which shall be reasonably limited to that which is necessary to 55 support the identification, assessment, and linkage of homeless individ- 56 uals and families to housing and supportive services; 
 A. 11700 3 1 (b) Determining which agencies and personnel are authorized to access 2 such information; 3 (c) Describing the secure methods by which information is to be 4 exchanged, and the administrative, technical, and physical safeguards 5 that shall be implemented; 6 (d) Establishing an information retention and disposal schedule; and 7 (e) Providing for uniform, written confidentiality agreements and 8 ongoing security and privacy training for all team participants. 9 2. The protocols shall be distributed to each participating team 10 member and made available to the department. 11 3. The adoption and periodic revision of such protocols shall not 12 require the prior approval of any state agency and shall be subject to 13 compliance with applicable state and federal law. 14 § 115-i. Protections and remedies. 1. Any disclosure or use of confi- 15 dential information in violation of this title shall be subject to all 16 available legal remedies, including, but not limited to, civil penalties 17 and injunctive relief. 18 2. Except as expressly provided herein, no provision of this title 19 shall be construed to diminish or modify the rights or obligations under 20 any other law governing the confidentiality of information. 21 § 115-j. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or 22 part of this title shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdic- 23 tion to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invali- 24 date the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to 25 the clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part thereof directly 26 involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been 27 rendered. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.