New York legislation · 2025-2026 General Assembly
New York A10781: Replaces the word addict or addicts and the word addiction with the words persons with substance use disorder or a variation thereof
Status: Introduced, June 22, 2026
Replaces certain appearances of the words addict, addicts and addiction with the words person with a substance use disorder, person with a mental health disorder, person with co-occurring disorder, person in recovery, or a variation thereof.
What the bill says
An act to amend the judiciary law, the mental hygiene law, the public health law, the county law, the general city law, the education law, the penal law, the railroad law, the social services law, the emergency housing rent control law, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four and the general construction law, in relation to replacing certain appearances of the words addict, addicts, and addiction with the words person with a substance use disorder, person with a mental health disorder, person with co-occurring disorder, person in recovery, or variation thereof.
From the introduced text, April 1, 2026:
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, the mental hygiene law, the public health law, the county law, the general city law, the education law, the penal law, the railroad law, the social services law, the emergency housing rent control law, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four and the general construction law, in relation to replacing certain appearances of the words addict, addicts, and addiction with the words person with a substance use disorder, person with a mental health disorder, person with co-occurring disorder, person in recovery, or variation thereof THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 35 of the judiciary law, as amended by chapter 511 of the laws of 2025, is amended to read as follows: a. When a court orders a hearing in a proceeding upon a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of detention of a person in custody in a state institution, or when it orders a hearing in a civil proceeding to commit or transfer a person to or retain a person in a state institution when such person is alleged to be [mentally ill, mentally defective or] a person with substance use disorder, A PERSON WITH A MENTAL HEALTH …