BILL NUMBER: S10673
SPONSOR: BOTTCHER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the
"Public Health Modernization Act"
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would repeal the state's 1985 prohibition against adult saunas
and replace it with a regulatory framework rooted in modern public
health strategies.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill provides the short title, the "Public Health
Modernization Act"
Section 2 of the bill amends the public health law by adding a new
section 225-a, which would direct the New York State Department of
Health to repeal 10 NYCRR 24-2, an obsolete state regulation that treats
any commercial establishment that makes facilities available for the
purpose of consensual sexual activity as a threat to public health. The
department would also be directed to replace such regulation with new
rules authorizing the licensing and operation of adult saunas. Such
rules shall establish minimum standards to ensure the health and safety
of patrons and employees, consistent with modern public health strate-
gies.
Section 3 provides that the bill shall take effect 180 days after becom-
ing law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
For nearly a century, prior to the mid 1980s, New York City was home to
adult saunas, also known as bathhouses, which were establishments that
provided sauna, bathing, and social spaces where adults could relax,
socialize, and, at times, engage in consensual sexual activity. Adult
saunas became especially important gathering places for members of the
queer community because they offered a more inclusive and liberating
environment at a time when they were subjected to widespread social
stigma, street violence, police harassment, and more.
Beyond mere sexual spaces, adult saunas functioned as community hubs
where members of the queer community could organize and express them-
selves openly without fear, helping to lay the groundwork for early
LGBTQ+ rights activism.
Everything changed with the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the
early 1980s. The disease devastated New York City, overwhelming hospi-
tals and causing the deaths of thousands of people. State and city offi-
cials faced mounting pressure to respond as scientists worked to better
understand how the disease was transmitted and as public health offi-
cials sought strategies to reduce high-risk behaviors.
In October 1985, the New York State Public Health Council adopted emer-
gency amendments to the State Sanitary Code, later codified as 10 NYCRR
Subpart 24-2, prohibiting the operation of establishments that permitted
specified sexual activity on the premises and declaring such establish-
ments to be a threat to the public health. Although written in broader
terms, the regulations were widely understood to have been adopted
primarily to close gay saunas, which became the principal focus of their
enforcement. The original 1985 regulation listed anal intercourse and
fellatio as "high risk sexual activity"; the rule was amended to explic-
itly include "vaginal intercourse" nearly a decade later.
The closure of gay saunas reflected an emergency public health strategy
adopted during a period of extraordinary fear and uncertainty surround-
ing HIV/AIDS. Critics have long argued that closing regulated venues
displaced sexual activity into less visible settings while reducing
opportunities for public health engagement. Four decades later, the
scientific and public health landscape has fundamentally changed. HIV is
now preventable through tools including PrEP, PEP, routine testing,
effective antiretroviral therapy, and proven harm reduction strategies.
Yet the emergency-era regulation adopted in 1985 remains in effect
despite the dramatic evolution of public health science.
The Public Health Modernization Act repeals the outdated prohibition
contained in 10 NYCRR Subpart 24-2 and directs the Department of Health,
in consultation with public health experts, to establish a modern
licensing and regulatory framework governing adult saunas. The legis-
lation preserves public health oversight while replacing an emergency-
era prohibition with evidence-based standards focused on health, safety,
education, and harm reduction.
Many cities across the United States permit adult saunas, and this
legislation comes as more cities across the country are reexamining
policies enacted during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Earlier
this year, Minneapolis repealed its 38-year AIDS-era ban on adult
saunas, with Mayor Jacob Frey signing the legislation just before the
city's Pride celebration. San Francisco has likewise moved away from
outright bans, adopting regulations that allow saunas to operate under
strict public health standards.
The emergency regulations adopted in 1985 were implemented during an
unprecedented public health crisis, at a time of widespread fear, limit-
ed scientific knowledge, and few effective tools to prevent or treat
HIV. Four decades later, those circumstances have fundamentally changed.
New York's public health policies should reflect current science,
protect individual liberty, and promote health through education,
licensing, oversight, and harm reduction rather than prohibition. The
Public Health Modernization Act accomplishes that goal by replacing an
emergency-era ban with a modern regulatory framework appropriate for the
twenty-first century.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.