TO:
Trustees

I urge you to contact Governor David Paterson’s office to ask that he veto legislation (S.8047-A, Morahan/A.11499, Rivera) that would inappropriately give the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) oversight over trustee training. The bill would have the unintended impact of affecting general hospitals that are dually licensed by Article 28 of the Public Health Law and Article 31 of the Mental Hygiene Law.

Specifically, this legislation would require OMH and OMRDD to:

• establish minimum training requirements for boards of trustees of not-for-profit providers licensed by either OMH or OMRDD; and
• develop regulations related to disclosure of compensation and potential conflicts of interest.

While Healthcare Trustees of New York State (HTNYS) and Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) fully embrace the value of health care trustee education, we believe this bill is inappropriate for hospitals and we sent a letter to Governor Paterson in July requesting that he veto this legislation.

We anticipate that this bill will be delivered to Governor Paterson soon. The Governor then has a short window of time to approve or veto the legislation.

We Need Your Assistance

You have a small window of opportunity to convey your opposition to this legislation. Please contact Governor Paterson’s office by calling him at (518) 474-8390 and ask that he veto the trustee training legislation.

Script to Assist You in Making the Call

When you call, tell the receptionist that you are calling about S.8047 and A.11499, on which the Governor will be acting, and that you would like to speak with him or a member of his staff about the bill.

Highlight the following:

• I understand that the Governor will be considering legislation (S.8047-A and A.11499) related to training boards of trustees. I am calling to relay my concerns and to ask the Governor to veto the legislation.
• This bill would require OMH and OMRDD to establish training requirements for boards of trustees of certain not-for-profit providers licensed by either OMH or OMRDD. If enacted, this bill would have the unintended impact of affecting general hospitals that are dually licensed by Article 28 of the Public Health Law and Article 31 of the Mental Hygiene Law.
• The Department of Health (DOH) already regulates trustee education and training [10NYCRR 405.2 (b)(3) is the regulation that governs trustee education].
• Additional oversight of hospital trustees by OMH could create a potentially confusing and counter-productive regulatory and surveillance quandary at the state level when such hospitals are already regulated by DOH.
• Additional provisions of the bill relate to the disclosure by trustees of any potential conflicts of interest and/or compensation policies. These provisions lead to further complications because federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and regulations already cover these issues. The IRS has a process for hospital board trustees to disclose conflicts of interest and requires us to report on executive compensation.
• Educating trustees about their responsibilities is paramount to the mission of HTNYS, which offers trustee education on a variety of issues including fiduciary oversight and effective governance practices.
• Although this bill is well intentioned, it creates serious problems for hospitals, and I urge the Governor to veto it.

We also request that you follow-up your telephone call with a letter urging the Governor to veto this legislation. A sample letter is available on HANYS’ Web site. If you do not have access to the site, please contact your chief executive officer or Sheila Taylor, Executive Assistant, HTNYS, at staylor@hanys.org or at (518) 431-7717, to obtain the sample letter.

You can e-mail your letter to the Governor using an online tool.