The Ad Hoc Team convened a team meeting on February 13, 2025
1) Assemblyman William Magnarelli, Assembly District 129, has introduced our bill to this year’s Assembly. The bill number is A00236. There are presently four co-sponsors for our bill. They include Sayegh, Cook, Buttenschon and Gonzalez-Rojas. (D) Nader J. Sayegh, Assembly District 90,member of the Committees of Health and Higher Education, (D) Vivian E. Cook, Assembly District 32, (D) Marianne Buttenschon, Assembly District 119, member on the Higher Education Committee and (D) Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Assembly District 34, member of Health Committee. (Bill Attached)
2) Kate Herhily, legal counsel for the NYSSRC, continued to have conversations with NYSED to set a time for a meeting to discuss our differences regarding our bill and how we could resolve them. Along with Kate continuing to contact SED and attempting to set up a meeting on Friday, December 6, Felix Khusid and Stephen Smith arranged a phone with James E. Cottrell, MD. Dr. Cottrell, at the time of the meeting, was a member of the NYSED Board of Regents. He is presently the Chair Emeritus, Department of Anesthesiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in NYC. He helped found the subspecialty of neuroanesthesiology. Our conversation lasted for 30 minutes and he was extremely supportive of our initiative and quite complimentary on the profession of Respiratory Care. Dr. Cottrell promised to follow up our conversation with David Hamilton, Deputy Commissioner of the Professions.
3) On Wednesday, December 10, Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Team met with Kate Herlihy to discuss with her the meeting we had with Dr. Cottrell. She informed the Co-Chairs that she would continue to have conversations with SED to see about arranging a meeting.
4) On Tuesday, December 24, Kate contacted the Ad Hoc Team to inform us that SED has agreed to meet with us. She indicated that they would meet with us on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
5) On Tuesday, January 7, the members of the Ad Hoc Team met to prepare for our meeting with SED that would take place that same day at 2 PM (meeting minutes). Attached to this report is the MOM of the meeting with SED that was held on Tuesday, January 7. On Thursday, January 16, the Ad Hoc Team met with Kate Herlihy, legal counsel, to discuss amendments to our bill that were recommended by SED. The changes to the language of the bill were completed as per SED’s recommendation and the bill will be sent to SED for their review.
6) Kate Herlihy, legal counsel, will ask Senator Andrew Gounardes’ from 26th Senate District in Brooklyn, to reintroduce the present bill to the NYS Senate, similar to the bill introduced by Assemblyman William Magnarelli in the NYS Assembly.
7) The new Chair of Higher Education in the Assembly is Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman from District 29. This district includes Laurelton, Rosedale, St. Albans, Addisleigh Park, Hollis, Springfield Gardens and Jamaica in Queens. In the Senate, it is Senator Toby Ann Stavisky representing District 11. District 11 includes Whitestone, Douglaston, Glen Oaks and Oakland Gardens in Queens.
8) Kate Herlihy, legal counsel, informed us that she has met with Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman, the new Chair of Higher Education in the Assembly, and had a discussion with her about the bill. Assemblywoman Hyndman informed Ms. Herlihy that she is familiar with the Respiratory Therapy profession and was interested in learning more about the bill. We are in the process of scheduling a meeting with Assemblywoman Hyndman to discuss the language of the bill and the future of the profession.
