---
type: "Bill"
title: "Declares racism a public health crisis and establishes a working group to promote racial equity throughout the state"
description: "Declares racism a public health crisis; establishes a working group within the department of health to promote racial equity throughout the state and address issues related to racism as a public health crisis."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ny"
legislature: "New York Legislature"
session: "2021-2022"
identifier: "S 2987"
citation: "New York S 2987 (2021-2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["PARKER"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 15
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-01-26"
last_action: "2021-12-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/097038ac-b8bc-459a-b24e-c4f1a2ed0f9a"
source_url: "http://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S2987"
source_hash: "ac06cf369e8a170f3ffadbcf96609a39fdf2e5588a29753e88c970f70f1599c7"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ny"]
---

# New York S 2987 (2021-2022) — Declares racism a public health crisis and establishes a working group to promote racial equity throughout the state

Declares racism a public health crisis; establishes a working group within the department of health to promote racial equity throughout the state and address issues related to racism as a public health crisis.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **S2987** (committee substitute) — [source](http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?sh=printbill&bn=S2987&term=2021&Text=Y)
2. **S2987A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2021/S2987A)

## Votes

- Health Vote - Version: A — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Floor Vote - Version: A — **48–15** (pass) · upper
- Assembly Vote — **110–39** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- PARKER — primary (person)
- MAY — cosponsor (person)
- MYRIE — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-26** REFERRED TO HEALTH `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-02** AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HEALTH `amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-02** PRINT NUMBER 2987A `amendment-passage`
- **2021-04-19** 1ST REPORT CAL.661
- **2021-04-20** 2ND REPORT CAL.
- **2021-04-21** ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
- **2021-05-05** PASSED SENATE `passage`
- **2021-05-05** DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
- **2021-05-05** REFERRED TO GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** SUBSTITUTED FOR A5679A
- **2021-06-08** ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.565
- **2021-06-10** PASSED ASSEMBLY `passage`
- **2021-06-10** RETURNED TO SENATE
- **2021-12-10** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR `executive-receipt`
- **2021-12-22** SIGNED CHAP.775 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/097038ac-b8bc-459a-b24e-c4f1a2ed0f9a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New York legislature records).