No. 11.1: Declaring a Disaster Emergency in the State of New York

 

E X E C U T I V E  O R D E R No. 11.1

Declaring a Disaster Emergency in the State of New York

WHEREAS, the COVID-19 global pandemic has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization since early 2020;

WHEREAS, the United States Health and Human Services Secretary declared a public health emergency for the entire United States to aid the nation’s healthcare community in responding to COVID-19 on January 31, 2020;

WHEREAS, New York is now experiencing COVID-19 transmission at rates the State has not seen since April 2021;           

WHEREAS, the rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions has been increasing over the past month to over 300 new admissions a day;

WHEREAS, the state must pursue a coordinated approach to ensure hospital capacity statewide is able to meet regional needs;

WHEREAS, the State government must support the municipalities and counties in their efforts to facilitate and administer vaccinations and tests for COVID-19, and to prevent the virus from continuing to spread at such rates;

WHEREAS, a new SarCoV2 variant, known as Omicron, has been identified and named a variant of concern by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

WHEREAS, this variant has been identified in all 50 U.S. states, including New York, and more than 104 countries;

WHEREAS, this Omicron variant has been shown to be highly transmissible and may cause exponential spread;

WHEREAS, current vaccinations do not appear to be as effective against Omicron infection, while remaining stronger against severe disease;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the State of New York and Section 28 of Article 2-B of the Executive Law, do hereby continue the terms, conditions, and suspensions contained in Executive Order 11 until January 25, 2022.

IN ADDITION, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to temporarily suspend or modify any statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation, or parts thereof, of any agency during a State disaster emergency, if compliance with such statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay action necessary to cope with the disaster emergency or if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, I hereby temporarily suspend or modify, for the period from the date of this Executive Order through January 25, 2022 the following:

• Title V of Article 5 of the Public Health Law and subparts 19 and 58 of Title 10 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to allow laboratories holding a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Acts (CLIA) certificate and meeting the CLIA quality standards described in 42 CFR Subparts H, J, K and M, to perform testing for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in specimens collected from individuals in New York State;
• Subdivisions 7, 7-a and 8 of section 459-c of the Real Property Tax Law, and subdivisions 5, 5-a, 5-b, 5-c and 6 of section 467 of the Real Property Tax Law, to the extent necessary to permit the governing body of an assessing unit to adopt a resolution directing the assessor to grant exemptions pursuant to such section on the 2022  assessment roll to all property owners who received that exemption on the 2021 assessment roll, thereby dispensing with the need for renewal applications from such persons, and further dispensing with the requirement for assessors to mail renewal applications to such persons.  Provided however, that the governing body may, at its option, include in such resolution procedures by which the assessor may require a renewal application to be filed when he or she has reason to believe that an owner who qualified for the exemption on the 2021 assessment roll may have since changed his or her primary residence, added another owner to the deed, transferred the property to a new owner, or died;
• Article 7 of the Public Officers Law to the extent necessary to authorize the New York State Senate and Assembly, at their discretion, to meet and take such action authorized by law remotely by conference call or similar service and otherwise act in conformance with the provisions of Part E of Chapter 417 of the Laws of 2021, and expiring upon the expiration of such Chapter.

G I V E N   under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State in the City of Albany this twenty-sixth day of December in the year two thousand twenty-one

BY THE GOVERNOR          

Secretary to the Governor