Requiring lactation rooms in certain locations providing services to the public.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring lactation rooms in certain locations providing services to the public

This bill would require the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to ensure that every job center, SNAP center, medical assistance program center of the Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration, as well as every city-owned borough office of the Administration for Children’s Services and the Nicholas Scoppetta Children’s Center, and every health center operated or maintained by DOHMH, to make at least one lactation room available upon request to an individual utilizing on-site services. The presence of such a lactation room shall not interfere with such an individual’s right to breastfeed in public. DOHMH would be required to create a poster containing information on breast-feeding, an individual’s right to breastfeed in nurse in public, and the availability of lactation rooms pursuant to this section. The poster would be made available by DOHMH and displayed in a clear and conspicuous manner in the waiting room of any public space where a lactation room is required to be made available. DOHMH would also be required to create a list of all public spaces with lactation rooms and make this list available on its website. The bill would also require the Department of Education to submit to the Speaker of the Council on or before August 1, 2017 and on or before every August 1 thereafter, a report summarizing policies at NYC public schools to allow a student or parent/guardian of a student to access a lactation room upon request.