Members of a New York State Senate committee are holding a hearing Friday afternoon with mental health professionals to solicit input on administering the SAFE Act, the state’s new gun-control law.
Hudson Valley Senator David Carlucci, an Independent Democrat who chairs the senate’s Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee, will join with other elected officials to hear testimony to better understand under the SAFE Act the challenges associated with reporting patients considered to potentially pose a threat to the public. With the law in effect, Carlucci says medical professionals and advocates are looking for clarification as to when they are allowed to notify local health departments of troubled patients, and he hopes to streamline such reporting guidelines. He says it’s the first hearing in New York to look into this part of the SAFE Act. This afternoon’s hearing takes place at Senate offices in Manhattan. Twelve mental health professionals are scheduled to testify.
