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Update on New York State bed bug legislation (parental notification re: bed bugs in school)

nobugsonme — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:33:13 +0000

Remember the bill introduced by Michael Gianaris and passed in the NYS Assembly last May? We were happy the Assembly passed it.

But Bill A6667a later died in the NYS Senate in January of this year.

The good news is that the bill has now been amended and approved by the Assembly once again as A6667b. It has been submitted to the New York State Senate again as of 3/19, and is under consideration by their Education Committee. Click here to read the text of the bill and follow its progress through the NYS Assembly to Senate back to the Assembly, and now to the Senate again.

The bill,

Requires city school districts having a population of one million or more to
notify parents and persons in parental relation of any bedbug infestations
found in a school.

And as the bill’s text details, principals would need to notify parents right away and provide information on preventing infestations and on avoiding the spread of bed bugs from school to home (or vice versa):

1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 920 to
2 read as follows:
3 S 920. PUBLIC SCHOOLS; INFESTATION OF BEDBUGS (CIMEX LECTULARIUS). 1.
IN A CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE INHABITANTS, THE PRINCIPAL OF EACH PUBLIC SCHOOL SHALL PROVIDE IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION TO ALL PARENTS OR PERSONS IN PARENTAL RELATION DISCLOSING A FINDING RELATING TO THE INFESTATION OF BEDBUGS (CIMEX LECTULARIUS) IN SUCH SCHOOL. ALONG WITH THE NOTIFICATION REQUIRED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, THE PRINCIPAL OF SUCH PUBLIC SCHOOL SHALL ALSO INCLUDE INFORMATION REGARDING PROPER PROCEDURES TO PREVENT FURTHER INFESTATIONS AT THE SCHOOL AND TO PREVENT THE TRANSFER OF BEDBUGS FROM THE SCHOOL TO THE RESIDENCES OF STUDENTS. SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE DEVELOPED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION IN CONSULTATION WITH OTHER CITY AGENCIES AND SHALL BE AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES AS DEEMED NECESSARY. THE PRINCIPAL SHALL ENSURE THAT THE BEDBUG INFESTATION AT THE SCHOOL IS PROPERLY ADDRESSED IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND SAFE MANNER.

Yes– it’s imperfect: why “one million or more”?
But let’s not focus on that for now.

Instead, let’s consider that this is a big step forward. We need the NY Senate to approve this bill. Parents have a right to know if bed bugs are in their kids’ schools.
Let’s not let this bill die again in the Senate.

These are some education-minded NYS Assembly Members who sponsored AO6667b in the Assembly:

SPONSOR Michael N. Gianaris

Michael Gianaris, (D-Astoria, Queens):

COSPNSR Catherine Nolan, Ellen Young, Richard N. Gottfried

MLTSPNSR Peter J. Abbate, Jr., James F. Brennan, Ann Margaret Carrozza, Luis M. Diaz, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Adriano Espaillat, D. Gordon,
Rory I. Lancman, Margaret M. Markey, Audrey I. Pheffer, Bob Reilly, Darryl C. Towns, Harvey Weisenberg

You might want to write your representative, if they’re listed above, and thank them for sponsoring the bill. If you don’t know who your representatives are, you can search by zip code, by clicking here. Please have a look. It will only take a moment.

Although not involved with sponsoring A6667b, Assembly Member José R. Peralta also cares about the effects bed bugs are having on his constituents. Perhaps you’d like to talk to him too.

But right now, the legislation is under consideration by the Education Committee for the NYS Senate. And we can take action to encourage senators to pass this bill.

This is the NYS Senate Education Committee:

Chairperson:
Stephen M. Saland

Members:
Kenneth P. LaValle, Suzi Oppenheimer, James Seward, Velmanette Montgomery, Carl Marcellino, Toby Ann Stavisky, Charles J. Fuschillo, Eric T. Schneiderman, Thomas Morahan, Martin Dilan, Martin Golden, John Sabini, Elizabeth Little, José Serrano, Joseph Robach, Shirley L. Huntley, and Andrew Lanza

Are any of these senators representing you?

You can find your New York State senators by zip code or by map.

Then send your senators an email. This is an alphabetized email list of senators.

If your senators are on the Education Committee (and so listed right above), then tell them that you feel parents must be notified when bed bugs are found in school.

Tell senators on the Education Committee that the bill matters because as the information on A6667b provided by the Assembly states, “Currently, if a bed bug is discovered in a school, only the family of the affected child is notified. Additional notifications are left up to the discretion of school health officials.” Tell them that requiring principals to notify parents promptly about bed bug infestations at school and requiring them to provide information about preventing the spread of bed bugs will help keep bed bugs out of our schools, and will also prevent other New Yorkers from suffering from the cost and pain of removing them from their homes or workplaces. Minimizing the spread of bed bugs helps everyone in New York State.

If your senators are not on the Education Committee, drop them an email letting them know how affected you were by the bed bug problem, and how much you support Bill A6667b, currently being discussed by the Senate Education Committee.

The bill died the first time it was considered by the NY State Senate. Let’s make sure that does not happen again.

You can send good emails to three politicians in five minutes, using the information above. (In contrast, it took me an hour and a half to write this post and include all the links!) Please contact your state senators, Assembly people. We need to press politicians for change on the bed bug issue.

Also, don’t forget, if you live in New York City, you also need to tell your New York City Council Members that the city need a Bed Bug Task Force, now. Click here to find out how to contact them, for a sample letter, and for more pointers from New York vs. Bed Bugs.

Why we need a massive public education campaign about bed bugs (reason #327)

nobugsonme — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:00:37 +0000

A reader in the NY/NJ/CT tri-state area wrote tonight to tell me this story.

The reader, who has suffered much from bed bugs and was discarding a cherished piece of wooden furniture only after a long fight with bed bugs and many treatments. It was wrapped in sealed plastic and labeled as being infested with bed bugs.

A [name of large dept. store chain xxx] delivery truck just stopped at my house.

A man rang my door bell and asked if he could take the piece for it looked like garbage. I told him that I wouldn’t take it if I were him. He asked why and I told him that there is a possibility that it’s infested, hence the sign. Thank goodness they drove away.

But I just cannot believe that if they took it — and yes, I have the thing wrapped to the hilt — they would be putting it in the [xxx company] truck.

That was a delivery truck for a major and well-respected national chain, which was presumably in the course of dropping off new items in the area. I hope this reader will write a letter to that company, explaining what happened, and why it was a bad thing.

Many people in the driver’s shoes would simply take the item. Obviously, the sign was no deterrent.

Had the reader not been home, even this driver might have taken the item. It was carefully wrapped, so the company’s other customers might actually have been protected. But someone willing to ignore a bed bug warning sign might also not get why they should not peek inside. And eventually, the item would have been unwrapped somewhere.

Having heard much more of this reader’s saga, I know why this person is discarding the item. If you can avoid it, however, get furniture treated. Depending on what bed bug treatment your home is getting, such items can be dry steamed, sprayed by a PCO, or left in a home where Vikane or thermal treatments are being done. Try not to discard bed bug infested furniture. If it cannot be destroyed (as this piece of wooden furniture would have taken some work to destroy), get it sprayed to the hilt.

And since many folks are going to toss things anyway, write a letter to lobby your local officials to create a bed bug task force (New York vs. Bed Bugs gives a sample letter for New Yorkers in particular, and to implement (among other things) ways of dealing with bed bug-infested refuse. Because, let’s face it, some stuff is going to get tossed.

bed bugs on the campaign trail

nobugsonme — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:05:34 +0000

Mary Cheney on sleeping with bed bugs during a campaign tour:

To stretch their funds, Cheney said, candidates and staff stay in pretty bad hotels when they’re on the road.

“There are some incredibly beautiful hotels in this country,” she said, “and if you are working on a political campaign, you will be staying in none of them.”

During one trip, she found herself sleeping on a rollaway bed. The problem, though, was when she woke up.

“I realized something wasn’t quite right … from the neck down I was covered in huge itchy welts - bedbug bites,” Cheney said.

From “Cheney: Politics has always been part of the family” in yesterday’s Michigan City, Indiana News-Dispatch (caught by hopelessnomo).