Earlier this year, the Grieving Families Act was reintroduced as Bill No. A6063 (“Version 4”). In June, Version 4 passed both the New York State Senate and Assembly. The Legislature did not address Governor Hochul’s previous concerns, and Version 4 contains nearly identical language to that of Version 3 which was vetoed last year on February 21, 2024.
Brief History of the Bill’s Evolution
On January 30, 2023, Governor Hochul vetoed the original Grieving Families Act (“Version 1”) which sought to greatly expand the scope of damages available to plaintiffs in wrongful death actions. Following Governor Hochul’s veto, she issued an op-ed explaining her veto was due to the absence of any serious evaluation of the impact the bill’s massive changes would have on the economy, small businesses, and the State’s complex healthcare system.
Later that year, the Legislature reintroduced the bill in an amended form (“Version 2”), with only minor changes, however. These minor changes did not address the points raised in Governor Hochul’s op-ed, and she vetoed Version 2 of the bill on December 29, 2023.
Remaining persistent, the bill was reintroduced for a third time (“Version 3”) on February 21, 2024. That version expanded compensation to include grief or anguish experienced by family members due to the death, as well as the loss of love, companionship, protection, comfort, society, and consortium. In vetoing Version 3, Governor Hochul stated: “While well-intentioned, these changes would likely have resulted in higher costs to patients and consumers, as well as other unintended consequences. For the third year in a row, the Legislature has passed a bill that continues to pose significant risks to consumers, without many of the changes I expressed openness to in previous rounds of negotiations.”
The Fourth Amended Version of the Grieving Families Act
On February 4, 2025, the bill was reintroduced yet again and thereafter passed through both the New York State Senate (51–10) and Assembly (131–13).
While Governor Hochul has repeatedly expressed her concerns with the bill’s expansive language and unintended economic consequences, the Legislature has remained unreceptive to those concerns. Version 4 is identical to Version 3 and its recoverable damages. Version 4 would provide the following recoverable damages:
(i) reasonable funeral expenses of the decedent paid by the persons for whose benefit the action is brought, or for the payment of which any person for whose benefit the action is brought is responsible; (ii) reasonable expenses for medical care incident to the injury causing death, including but not limited to doctors, nursing, attendant care, treatment, hospitalization of the decedent, and medicines; (iii) grief or aguish caused by the decedent’s death; (iv) loss of love, society, protection, comfort, companionship, and consortium resulting for the decedent’s death; (v) pecuniary injuries, including loss of services, support, assistance, and loss or diminishment of inheritance, resulting from the decedents death; and (vi) loss of nurture, guidance, counsel, advice, training, and education resulting from the decedent’s death.
It seems unlikely Governor Hochul will approve this bill given the legislature, once again, failed to address the Governor’s concerns, which have been repeatedly raised in each of her veto statements. Eventually, Version 4 will be delivered to the desk of Governor Hochul where she will either approve or veto the bill. Based on Version’s past, this will likely occur at the end of 2025 or early 2026.
Implications of Article IV, Section 7 of the New York State Constitution
In years past, following the Governor’s veto, the Legislature has “tabled” the legislation. Should the Governor once again veto the proposed Grieving Families Act, the Legislature could once again “table” the bill. Alternatively, the bill has sufficient support in both Houses to overcome the veto by two-thirds vote of each chamber and become law notwithstanding the Governor’s continued objections. As with always, Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC will continue to monitor the progress of Version 4.
