Committee Assignments: Special Nursing Home Facilities

Prior Committee Assignments: Civic Center (Chair), Law, Health and Mass Transit

Daniel P. McCoy was elected on January 4, 2010 as the Chairman of the Legislature. Dan was re-elected to his third term in the Albany County Legislature in 2007 as the representative for residents of the 10th Legislative District. He has served in the Legislature since January 2000. The district encompasses the southwest segment of the City of Albany and portions of northern Bethlehem and Slingerlands.

Dan is the lead sponsor of legislation to protect Albany County citizens, especially children, from sexual predators and provide law enforcement and prosecutors with the tools they need to catch and monitor sex offenders. The legislation led to a County contract leasing global positioning systems (GPS) monitors to give judges the option of ordering sex offenders to wear the electronic tracking devices as part of their probation. He authored a local law to establish residency restrictions for those convicted of sexual offenses against minors, prohibiting them from living within 1,000 feet of schools and childcare facilities, and has urged the State Legislature to impose similar restrictions. He also worked to restore funds for the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) program at Albany Medical Center in collecting evidence to prosecute rape and sexual assault cases.

Dan has worked on a variety of other issues during his tenure. He won passage of legislation giving families the opportunity to seek fingerprint and criminal background checks through the Sheriff's Department before hiring home health aides to care for their aging or physically disabled parents or relatives. He sponsored a package of measures to improve staffing levels and oversight at the County's two nursing homes. Specifically, the legislation included a seven-member task force of professionals to watch over nursing home operations; a personnel specialist to coordinate job training and recruitment; new assistance to develop an advocacy volunteer program for patients and their families, and $10,000 for recruitment and retention of direct care staff. Additionally, he asked the County to explore State apprentice grants for training LPNs and other nurse practitioners at the two homes. "The residents of our homes deserve nothing less than quality and responsible care," he said.

He also sponsored a local law requiring dry cleaners, barbers, hairdressers and cosmetologists to post prices as a way for customers to compare charges and differences in costs for men and women. He pursued legislation to support volunteer fire and EMS departments in recruitment and retention efforts, finance the purchase of life-saving equipment, including a Mobile Air Compressor to refill air packs for use by the Albany Fire Department and surrounding departments in mutual aid scenarios and commit the County to pay liability insurance costs on behalf of Boy Scout Explorers who serve with volunteer fire and EMS units as a recruiting tool for a new generation of volunteers. He won passage of a local law requiring children age 13 and younger to wear helmets when riding scooters on sidewalks, streets and roads in Albany County. He also sponsored legislation to expand senior programs through a $500,000 grant and help libraries throughout the County expand computer resources and services.

A firefighter/EMT with the City of Albany Fire Department since early 2003, Dan previously was a firefighter for 10 years with the Albany International Airport Fire Department, where he rose to the rank of captain. Dan is involved in civic, neighborhood and union activities. He is a member of the New York Army National Guard and served on active duty in Iraq during 2006. He also is a member of the board of the National Little League, a social member of the North Bethlehem and the Slingerlands Fire Department, where he volunteered for six years, and a co-founder and former officer of the Albany Airport Firefighters Union Local I-65. He serves on the City of Albany Zoning and Appeals Board and formerly chaired the Albany Parks and Recreation Committee. Dan is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Hibernian Hall. He chairs the American Heart Association's PAD (Public Access Defibrillator) program. Dan is president and a founder of the Normanskill Neighborhood Association, a former girls softball coach at St. Catherine of Siena and organizer of a children's fingerprint identification program.

Dan and his wife, Alyssa, are the parents of three children, Egan, Tyghe and Taryn.