Says legislation will increase ways people can sign-up to be a donor
New York State Sen. Chris Jacobs announced the unanimous passage of a bill he sponsored that aims to significantly increase the number of registered organ donors in New York state.
"Currently, the majority of New Yorker's sign-up to the organ donor registry when they are at a local auto bureau," Jacobs said. "The challenge is we have hundreds of thousands of residents who do not drive, especially in the New York City area, and we need to give them easy opportunities to be donors, as well."
Jacobs' legislation will allow residents to sign-up to the organ donor registry when they are registering at a SUNY or CUNY institution, and when they are obtaining a local library card.
"The New York State Library system serves over 19 million people statewide, the SUNY system serves 1.3 million and CUNY 500,000 people annually," Jacobs said. "With the passage of my legislation today, it will be much easier for the 20 million people in these systems to become lifesaving organ donors."
Jacobs stressed the urgency of this legislation, noting more than 10,000 people are currently waiting for organ transplants across the state. At the same time, New York has the second-lowest percentage of registered donors of any state in the country. It is estimated that, each year, 500 New Yorkers die because of inability of identifying a lifesaving organ.
Jacobs has been a longtime proponent for increasing donor registration. As the former Erie County clerk, he led a campaign at the Erie County auto bureaus to dramatically increase the numbers of customers signing-up to the organ donor registry. In one year, he increased enrollment by 30 percent (more than 22,000 residents).
