A 7576 New York Assembly · 2025 Regular Session

Enacts the "McDow Watson medical transparency in correctional facilities act"

Summary
Relates to required notification of an incarcerated individual's emergency contacts when such incarcerated individual experiences a serious medical event; provides that incarcerated individuals and their representatives shall have the right to access such incarcerated individual's medical records; provides requirements for access to such medical records; requires the department of corrections and community supervision to collect data on medical incidents and response times, and to publish an annual report detailing such data.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Apr 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Apr 1, 2025 Last action Apr 21, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

A7576 A7576A · 5 edits
MODERATE
The bill was amended to add new sponsors and update its procedural status. The core policy text was significantly rewritten to remove a long list of specific past medical negligence cases and streamline the definitions of 'emergency contact' and 'serious medical event'.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding specific case examples was narrowed by removing detailed narratives of past incidents, while the legal requirements for notification remained substantively similar.
TECHNICAL

Added new sponsors (Taylor, Tapia, De Los Santos, Jackson, Meeks) and updated the bill's procedural history to reflect it was amended and recommitted to the committee.

SCOPE

Removed a detailed section listing specific names and stories of past medical failures (e.g., Layleen Polanco, Dante Taylor) that previously served as legislative findings.

DEFINITION

Simplified the definition of 'emergency contact' by removing the detailed priority list (spouse, child, parent, etc.) and the fallback provisions for when no contact is designated.

Expanded the definition of 'medical record' to explicitly list specific documents like lab results, nursing notes, and medication records.

REQUIREMENT

Added new requirements for facilities to maintain procedures for updating contact information via text or digital messaging and to keep a detailed log of all notification attempts.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
5
Key actions
2
Committee
3
Amendments
2
Apr 21, 2026
Committee
REPORTED REFERRED TO WAYS AND MEANS
lower
Apr 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 7576A
lower
Apr 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO CORRECTION
lower
Jan 7, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO CORRECTION
lower
Apr 1, 2025
Committee
REFERRED TO CORRECTION
lower
1 primary · 7 co-sponsors

Sponsors