Senator Kemp Hannon is releasing information from the New York State Department of Tax and Finance indicating only 90 percent of eligible homeowners in Nassau County applied for STAR rebate checks in 2007.

"I had urged the governor to remove the application process and mail checks directly to homeowners to avoid a situation like this. Now the Tax and Finance Department releases information that 10 percent of homeowners in Nassau will never receive money due to them. If we are able to run a rebate program again this year, I sincerely hope the governor removes the application process," Senator Hannon said.

The state mailed out 212,169 checks to Nassau homeowners with Basic STAR totaling $115,177,885.94 and 51,087 to those with Enhanced STAR totaling $26,480,136.95. Statewide, only 91 percent of homeowners mailed in an application to receive a rebate check.

"If the state deems money is due to a homeowner, the responsibility should not be on the homeowner to retrieve that money, the burden should be placed on the state," Senator Hannon said. "In the current economic climate, homeowners should not have to jump through hoops to obtain money owed to them."

In 2006, the first year of the STAR rebate check program, homeowners were mailed checks directly. In 2007, Governor Spitzer changed the program, mandating homeowners apply for rebate checks even though they are entitled to the money.

The deadline to apply for a STAR rebate check was Dec. 31, 2007.

Effective since Jan. 1, 2008 is a law sponsored by Senator Kemp Hannon, chair of the Senate Health Committee, which revises existing provisions of law relating to hospital acquired infection (HAI) reporting; requiring hospitals to report a suspected or confirmed HAI associated with another hospital to the originating hospital, and mandating that documentation of reporting be maintained for six years. Also, hospitals are now required to report HAIs to the State Department of Health monthly, rather than every six months as previously required.

Senator Hannon said, "In order to ensure complete and accurate reporting of HAIs, health care facilities and providers must be able to notify each other of patients that are seen in more than one facility. This bi-directional flow of information is necessary to identify all sources of infection, for infection prevention and control and to ensure appropriate care of individual patients."

Senator Hannon noted this legislation provides facilities with the authority to share information, whereas they may otherwise be reluctant to do so on account of privacy laws.

The senator explained effective HAI prevention and control programs perform active surveillance, which involves the timely collection and analysis of infection data. The state health department's HAI reporting system has been designed to collate and analyze monthly infection data and provide immediate feedback to the reporting hospital using Center for Disease Control guidelines. Immediately upon data entry, hospitals are able to view their HAI rates, trend their monthly HAI infection rates and make comparisons with national infection rates.

Senator Hannon said, "These monthly infection rates are important to ensure rapid detection of infection problems and provide timely feedback for continuous quality improvement efforts."