Pubdate: Fri, 30 Dec 2016
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lohud.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205

NEW NY LAWS: BATTLING HEROIN, INCREASING MINIMUM WAGE

A new year brings new laws in New York, including stronger treatment
options for opioid addiction and increasing the state's minimum wage.

New York's minimum wage increases Dec. 31, 2016.

ALBANY -- A new year brings new laws in New York, including stronger
treatment options for opioid addiction and increasing the state's
minimum wage.

Many of the state's new laws each year are pegged to the start of the
calendar year, and in the case of the higher minimum wage, it starts
Saturday, Dec. 31.

The state's minimum wage is increasing from $9 an hour to $11 an hour
in New York City, and to $10.50 for businesses in the city with fewer
than 10 employees.

On Long Island and in Westchester County, the increase is from $9 to
$10 per hour; while the rest of the state's minimum wage is rising
from $9 to $9.70 per hour.

"No one who works full-time should be condemned to a life of poverty,"
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Thursday.

Here's a look at the key new laws:

The state has passed a series of new laws in recent years to fight a
surge in heroin and opioid addiction, and several of them take effect
Jan. 1.

"We have removed artificial barriers that prevented New Yorkers from
receiving the help they need and put into place new safeguards to get
these drugs off the street," Cuomo said in a statement.

A law will end the requirement of needing prior insurance
authorization in order to go immediately into an inpatient treatment
facility -- something lawmakers and health-care advocates said was an
impediment to getting immediate care for people in need.

There are other laws associated with medical treatment for opioid
addition that also go into effect, such as requiring insurers to pay
for medicine to treat substance abuse in emergency situations and
expanding access to naloxone -- a drug that can reverse the effects of
an overdose.

"This legislative package removes many of the burdensome insurance
coverage barriers keeping people from treatment," Sen. Terrence
Murphy, R-Yorktown, Westchester County, who sponsored many of the
bills, said in a statement.

[non drug-policy -relevant portions, snipped]
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