Enacts the "New York State Resident Experience Act of 2025", the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3273
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 27, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. McDONALD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Governmental Operations
 
 AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to enacting the New York
   State Resident Experience Act of 2025
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "New York State Resident Experience Act of 2025".
   § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that the New York state
 government serves the people of the state of New York and should seek to
 continually improve the provision of services based  on  resident  feed-
 back.    While many state agencies, offices, and programs provide excel-
 lent service to New Yorkers, there are many areas ripe for  improvement,
 particularly  within  agencies  that  provide  extensive resident-facing
 services. Providing quality services to residents  improves  the  confi-
 dence  of  New  Yorkers  in  their government and helps agencies achieve
 greater impact and fulfill their missions. Improving services  to  resi-
 dents requires agencies to leverage technology, collect and share stand-
 ardized data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and service strate-
 gies.  It is the legislature's belief that all agencies should strive to
 provide high-quality, courteous, effective, and  efficient  services  to
 New  Yorkers  and  seek to measure, collect, report, and utilize metrics
 relating to the experience of residents  interacting  with  agencies  to
 continually  improve provision of services to the people of the state of
 New York.
   § 3. The executive law is amended by adding a  new  section  170-i  to
 read as follows:
   §  170-I. COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK. 1. FOR
 PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE  THE  FOLLOWING
 MEANINGS:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06398-01-5
 A. 3273                             2
 
   (A)  "COVERED  AGENCY"  MEANS  AN AGENCY UNDER THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF
 STATE GOVERNMENT THAT PROVIDES OR FUNDS  RESIDENT-FACING  SERVICES  THAT
 HAVE  A  HIGH  IMPACT  ON THE PUBLIC DUE TO A LARGE RESIDENT BASE AND/OR
 INVOLVE SERVICES THAT HAVE A CRITICAL EFFECT ON THOSE SERVED.
   (B)  "VOLUNTARY  RESIDENT  EXPERIENCE  FEEDBACK" MEANS A RESPONSE TO A
 COLLECTION OF INFORMATION CONDUCTED BY A COVERED  AGENCY  IN  ACCORDANCE
 WITH THIS SECTION.
   2.  (A)  WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, THE
 GOVERNOR SHALL DESIGNATE THE COVERED AGENCIES REQUIRED TO COLLECT VOLUN-
 TARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE DATA. THE GOVERNOR SHALL  MAINTAIN  A  LIST  OF
 DESIGNATED COVERED AGENCIES AND MAY UPDATE THIS LIST AT ANY TIME.
   (B)  WITHIN ONE YEAR OF SUCH DESIGNATION BY THE GOVERNOR, EACH COVERED
 AGENCY SHALL SOLICIT THE COLLECTION  OF  VOLUNTARY  RESIDENT  EXPERIENCE
 FEEDBACK WITH RESPECT TO ANY SERVICE OFFERED BY OR TRANSACTIONS WITH THE
 COVERED AGENCY.
   (C)  THE  COVERED AGENCY SHALL DEVELOP A SET OF STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS
 THAT ADDRESS:
   (I) OVERALL SATISFACTION OF RESIDENTS WITH THE SPECIFIC INTERACTION OR
 SERVICE RECEIVED;
   (II) THE EXTENT TO WHICH  RESIDENTS  WERE  ABLE  TO  ACCOMPLISH  THEIR
 INTENDED TASK OR PURPOSE;
   (III)  WHETHER THE RESIDENT WAS TREATED WITH RESPECT AND PROFESSIONAL-
 ISM;
   (IV) WHETHER THE RESIDENT  BELIEVES  THEY  WERE  SERVED  IN  A  TIMELY
 MANNER; AND
   (V) ANY ADDITIONAL METRICS AS DETERMINED BY THE COVERED AGENCY.
   (D) TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, THE VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE FEED-
 BACK  SHALL  BE COLLECTED ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS OR CHANNELS THROUGH WHICH
 THE COVERED AGENCY INTERACTS WITH RESIDENTS OR OTHER ENTITIES TO DELIVER
 INFORMATION OR SERVICES, AND THE VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE  FEEDBACK
 COLLECTED  UNDER  THIS SECTION SHALL BE TIED TO SPECIFIC TRANSACTIONS OR
 INTERACTIONS WITH RESIDENTS UTILIZING PROGRAMS OR  SERVICES  OFFERED  BY
 THE COVERED AGENCY.
   3.  (A) ANY RESPONSE TO THE SOLICITATION OF VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERI-
 ENCE FEEDBACK SHALL REMAIN ANONYMOUS;
   (B) ANY INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY WHO DECLINES TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SOLIC-
 ITATION OF VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK SHALL NOT  BE  TREATED
 DIFFERENTLY  BY THE COVERED AGENCY FOR PURPOSES OF PROVIDING SERVICES OR
 INFORMATION;
   (C) THE VOLUNTARY NATURE OF THE SOLICITATION MUST BE CLEAR;
   (D) ANY SOLICITATION OF VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE  FEEDBACK  SHALL
 BE  LIMITED  TO  ONE  SOLICITATION PER INTERACTION WITH AN INDIVIDUAL OR
 ENTITY;
   (E) TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, THE SOLICITATION OF VOLUNTARY  RESIDENT
 EXPERIENCE  FEEDBACK SHALL BE MADE AT THE POINT OF SERVICE WITH AN INDI-
 VIDUAL OR ENTITY;
   (F) ANY INSTRUMENT FOR COLLECTING VOLUNTARY RESIDENT EXPERIENCE  FEED-
 BACK SHALL BE ACCESSIBLE TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES; AND
   (G)  ANY  APPLICABLE  INTERNAL  AGENCY  DATA GOVERNANCE POLICIES SHALL
 REMAIN IN EFFECT WITH RESPECT TO THE COLLECTION  OF  VOLUNTARY  RESIDENT
 EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK FROM ANY INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY.
   4.  (A)  EACH COVERED AGENCY SHALL REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR AND LEGISLA-
 TURE, ON A BIANNUAL BASIS FROM THE INITIAL COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY RESI-
 DENT EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK, ON THE OUTCOME OF THE COVERED AGENCY'S EFFORTS
 OVER THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.
 A. 3273                             3
 
   (B) THE REPORT SHALL INCLUDE AN ANALYSIS OF  THE  RESIDENT  EXPERIENCE
 FEEDBACK  COLLECTED,  A  DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE COVERED AGENCY USED SUCH
 FEEDBACK, AN ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME IMPROVEMENT  SINCE  THE  MOST  RECENT
 REPORT  WAS  ISSUED, AND ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SYSTEMS, PROCESSES, AND
 PROCEDURES TO IMPROVE RESIDENT EXPERIENCE WITH THE COVERED AGENCY.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.