S 7171: Provides for the development of an environmental health tracking system within the department of health with cooperation from the departments of environmental conservation and labor; provides that the purpose is to gather various environmental data to correlate with disease data; requires the cooperation of the state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7171 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE April 3, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, the environmental conservation law, the labor law and the education law, in relation to creating the environmental health tracking system The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2 804 to read as follows: 3 § 804. Environmental health tracking system. 1. The legislature finds 4 and declares all of the following: 5 a. There currently exist several health and environmental databases 6 maintained by the state. However, there is little or no coordination 7 between the use and analysis of these data as they pertain to environ- 8 mental health issues, or accessibility of this information by interested 9 parties and researchers. In its fight against chronic diseases, includ- 10 ing birth defects, that are related to the environment, the state must 11 give communities and public health professionals solid, reliable infor- 12 mation, which is the most basic tool with which to undertake the 13 prevention of these diseases. 14 b. Analysis of available data used to track and monitor chronic 15 diseases is critical to all of the following: 16 (1) knowing where and how to put in place the most effective strate- 17 gies to prevent diseases; 18 (2) assessing the contribution of diseases to disabilities and prema- 19 ture mortality; 20 (3) measuring the effectiveness of prevention strategies; and 21 (4) generating hypotheses that may lead to new scientific knowledge 22 about the causes of, and most effective ways to fight, chronic diseases. 23 c. State government agencies, universities and their consultants are 24 the appropriate and necessary institutions to examine whether or not, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03743-01-5 
 S. 7171 2 1 and, if so, the extent to which, past environmental exposures might 2 increase the risk of chronic diseases, including, but not limited to, 3 birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, thyroid disease, reproductive 4 disorders, cancer, asthma and other respiratory conditions, Parkinson's 5 disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurologically degenerative 6 diseases. 7 d. The initial investment to establish the environmental health track- 8 ing system, including an analysis infrastructure to develop preventive 9 strategies, would constitute a small fraction of the annual costs of 10 controlling chronic diseases in the state. 11 e. It is the intent of the legislature in creating the environmental 12 health tracking system to form a public-private partnership to create an 13 environmental health and tracking system to do all of the following: 14 (1) provide a continually updated database, with linkages to biomoni- 15 toring information, information about exposures to other environmental 16 agents, disease type data and other data collected pursuant to this 17 section, as well as linkages to databases of the U.S. centers for 18 disease control including those in its natural environmental public 19 health tracking program and in its behavioral risk factors database, in 20 order to assess the potential impact of environmental contaminants 21 (defined as physical, chemical or biological agents) on the human body 22 and to evaluate such in relation to established disease risk factors; 23 (2) on an ongoing basis, track and evaluate a variety of chronic 24 diseases in relation to environmental exposures, including state, local 25 and international data on actual incidences of chronic disease; 26 (3) make such data available to the public in an accessible and useful 27 format; and 28 (4) ultimately provide such data to the relevant board, division, or 29 office within the department, the department of environmental conserva- 30 tion, the department of labor, the workers' compensation board, and the 31 state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and 32 Buffalo for the development of appropriate preventive strategies. 33 2. a. The environmental health tracking system is hereby established 34 in the department. The purpose of such system shall be to monitor envi- 35 ronmental exposures and chronic diseases affecting New Yorkers. The 36 state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and 37 Buffalo are directed to cooperate with the department in establishing 38 the environmental health tracking system. 39 b. The objectives of the environmental health tracking system are as 40 follows: 41 (1) to track and evaluate a variety of chronic diseases in relation to 42 environmental exposures; 43 (2) to allow both government and university investigators, their 44 consultants and public health officials to assess the impact of environ- 45 mental contaminants on the human body; and 46 (3) to provide information to the department and to the department of 47 environmental conservation for the development of appropriate preventive 48 strategies. 49 c. To examine the relationships between chronic diseases and the envi- 50 ronment, using, to the maximum extent possible, existing health and 51 environmental data, the commissioner, based upon the recommendations of 52 the working group required pursuant to this section, shall: 53 (1) on an ongoing basis, survey a cross section of the overall popu- 54 lation in the state, including, to the extent possible, regional data to 55 assess geographic variation, including chronically ill patients, and 56 their environmental exposures; 
 S. 7171 3 1 (2) on a continuing and periodic basis, conduct science based biomoni- 2 toring, using CDC validated, analytical protocols and CDC's guidelines 3 and practices for ethical treatment of and communications of information 4 to participants in biomonitoring programs, for a cross section of the 5 population, including, to the extent possible, regional data to assess 6 geographic variation; and 7 (3) on an ongoing basis, link data created by such surveys and biomon- 8 itoring activities to other health and environmental databases, such as 9 birth certificates, neonatal blood tests, records of hospital admis- 10 sions, records of emergency room visits and mortality data. 11 3. On or before September first, two thousand twenty-five, the depart- 12 ment, in consultation with the department of environmental conservation, 13 the department of labor, and the state university of New York schools of 14 public health at Albany and Buffalo, shall create a working group of 15 technical experts in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, envi- 16 ronmental medicine, risk analysis, exposure assessment, developmental 17 biology, laboratory sciences, bioethics, and toxicology, including 18 experts who have knowledge of the sensitivity and exposure of children, 19 persons of child-bearing age, seniors and disparately affected popu- 20 lations to environmental hazards, to do all the following: 21 a. develop possible approaches to implementing the environmental 22 health tracking system, including an estimated cost and potential fund- 23 ing alternatives for each approach; 24 b. on or before September first, two thousand twenty-seven, prepare 25 and submit a report to the department, the department of environmental 26 conservation, the department of labor, the state university of New York 27 schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo, the temporary president 28 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chairpersons of the 29 senate and assembly environmental conservation committees, the chair- 30 persons of the senate finance and assembly ways and means committees, 31 and the chairpersons of the senate and assembly health committees on the 32 possible approaches to implementing an environmental health tracking 33 system for the state; and 34 c. determine the health and environmental criteria needed to examine 35 the relationship between chronic diseases, including birth defects, and 36 the environment. 37 4. The department and the state university of New York schools of 38 public health at Albany and Buffalo and their consultants are directed 39 to cooperate in creating the working group pursuant to subdivision three 40 of this section. 41 5. On or before January first, two thousand twenty-eight, the depart- 42 ment shall adopt and implement the approach recommended by the working 43 group that it determines most closely meets the findings and require- 44 ments of subdivision one of this section, after opportunity for inde- 45 pendent, scientific peer review and public comment. 46 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any confi- 47 dentiality provisions of any law. 48 § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new 49 section 3-0320 to read as follows: 50 § 3-0320. Environmental health tracking system. 51 The department shall cooperate with state agencies, universities, and 52 their consultants to provide all information and other relevant and 53 necessary expertise to meet the requirements of section eight hundred 54 four of the public health law. 55 § 3. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 888 to read as 56 follows: 
 S. 7171 4 1 § 888. Environmental health tracking system. The board shall cooperate 2 with state agencies, universities, and their consultants to provide all 3 information and other relevant and necessary expertise to meet the 4 requirements of section eight hundred four of the public health law. 5 § 4. The education law is amended by adding a new section 355-f to 6 read as follows: 7 § 355-f. State university of New York schools of public health at 8 Albany and Buffalo and their consultants to participate in the creation 9 of the environmental health tracking system working group. The state 10 university of New York schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo 11 and their consultants shall participate in the creation of the environ- 12 mental health tracking system working group pursuant to section eight 13 hundred four of the public health law. 14 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.