S 7539: Makes an appropriation to reimburse St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway for costs incurred as a result of remaining open and providing services to the community during and after Hurricane Sandy.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7539 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE April 22, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT making an appropriation to reimburse St. John's Episcopal Hospi- tal in Far Rockaway for costs incurred as a result of remaining open and providing services to the community during and after Hurricane Sandy The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that St. John's 2 Episcopal Hospital, located in Far Rockaway, in the county of Queens, 3 remained open and provided services to the community during and after 4 the storms, rains, or floods which occurred during the period beginning 5 on October 29, 2012 and ending November 3, 2012 known as "Hurricane 6 Sandy." As a result of remaining open and providing services to the 7 community during Hurricane Sandy, St. John's Episcopal Hospital incurred 8 many additional expenses and losses, including, but not limited to: 9 a. uncompensated care that does not meet DMS/HHS criteria for acute 10 care reimbursement, including providing care for patients requiring 11 dialysis or a ventilator who do not have a residence, nursing home, or 12 adult home to return to; 13 b. providing shelter, clothing, and meals to residents and staff who 14 lost homes or were temporarily unable to return to their residences. St. 15 John's Episcopal Hospital provided more than 2,000 meals a day between 16 October 28, 2012 and November 12, 2012; 17 c. lost revenue due to cancelled surgery and ambulatory services; 18 d. lost revenue due to the detoxification unit being closed in order 19 to provide shelter services; 20 e. additional staffing and overtime expenditures; 21 f. electrical technician services, the operation of back-up genera- 22 tors, and fuel costs for the generators. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09835-01-5 
 S. 7539 2 1 § 2. The sum of four million three hundred thirty thousand dollars 2 ($4,330,000), or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appro- 3 priated out of any moneys in the general fund of the state treasury to 4 the credit of the state purposes account not otherwise appropriated for 5 payment to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, located in Far Rockaway, in 6 the county of Queens, for costs incurred as a result of remaining open 7 and providing services to the community during and after Hurricane 8 Sandy. The amount hereby appropriated shall be payable to St. John's 9 Episcopal Hospital on the audit and warrant of the comptroller on a 10 voucher certified or approved in the manner prescribed by law. 11 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.