The Real Estate Board of New York to The City Council Committee on Health

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The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City’s leading real estate trade association representing commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, salespeople, and other organizations and individuals active in New York City real estate. REBNY appreciates the Council’s attention to this important issue and offers the following comments. 

Legionnaires disease, a serious and sometimes fatal form of pneumonia caused by the bacteria Legionella pneumophila, has been proven to be a persistent health hazard related to cooling towers in New York City. In 2015, as part of a response to a major outbreak of the disease that was shown to stem from cooling towers that had not been sufficiently treated for the above-referenced bacteria, the City passed Local Law 77. 

LL 77 established a robust cleaning, testing, maintenance, and reporting regime that is required for cooling towers. First, the law requires that all cooling towers and related equipment must be registered with the City. Next, owners submit annual documents confirming that cooling tower systems have been inspected, tested, cleaned, and disinfected by November 1 of each year. Disinfection protocols also require an intense “summer hyper halogenation” treatment between July 31 and August 31. Third, owners must create and implement a water treatment plan to control Legionella pneumophila. To ensure that the bacteria is under control, the law requires routine testing every 90 days while towers are in operation. Most of the work described above is undertaken by an outside environmental consulting and water treatment company that is state certified. 

REBNY members take the protection of the health of their tenants, staff, visitors, and the general public with the utmost importance and diligently follow the protocols required by law and related rules. REBNY regularly reminds its members of the requirements of Local Law 77 and routinely shares information provided by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene about these obligations. In addition, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, REBNY worked closely with members, partner organizations, and public health authorities to ensure that building owners maintained robust legionella prevention protocols while buildings were less-heavily occupied. 

Int. 0166-2024: Requiring building owners to provide shower hoses and informational materials on Legionnaires’ disease to tenants. 

Sponsors: Amanda Farías, Pierina Ana Sanchez, Lynn C. Schulman, Erik D. Bottcher, Crystal Hudson, Alexa Avilés, Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Kamillah Hanks, Rita C. Joseph, Yusef Salaam, Shaun Abreu, Nantasha M. Williams, Chris Banks, Eric Dinowitz, Althea V. Stevens, Oswald Feliz, Sandy Nurse, Frank Morano, Inna Vernikov 

This bill would require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to create and post online informational materials on Legionnaires’ disease, notify building owners when a tenant has a confirmed case, and require owners to distribute both DOHMH materials and shower hoses to all tenants within 24 hours of such notification. 

While REBNY supports the goal of increasing awareness and prevention of Legionnaires’ disease, the requirement to procure and distribute shower hoses within 24 hours presents significant logistical challenges for building owners given product availability and supply chain challenges particularly for larger buildings. . To overcome these barriers, the Council and Health Department should collaborate to create a stockpile of shower hoses that can be distributed to building owners when such devices are needed or through coordinated community distribution events.  

Int. 0434-2024: Building water system maintenance and inspection. 

Sponsors: Pierina Ana Sanchez, Keith Powers , Amanda Farías, Althea V. Stevens, Kevin C. Riley, Rafael Salamanca, Jr., Eric Dinowitz, Diana I. Ayala, Oswald Feliz, Crystal Hudson, Shaun Abreu, Tiffany Cabán, Farah N. Louis, Yusef Salaam, Gale A. Brewer, Lynn C. Schulman, Julie Won, Alexa Avilés, Christopher Marte, Nantasha M. Williams, Chris Banks, Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Kamillah Hanks, Rita C. Joseph, Sandy Nurse, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, (in conjunction with the Bronx Borough President) 

This bill would require certain buildings—including large buildings, buildings with water devices, those primarily housing individuals over 65, and multi-unit buildings with centralized hot water systems—to implement a comprehensive water system or water device management program to minimize Legionella bacteria. The bill outlines detailed requirements for maintenance, inspection and testing, cleaning, disinfection, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting. 

REBNY supports the concept of implementing water management programs to mitigate Legionella risk and acknowledges the public health benefits of such measures. Any standards need to be carefully crafted based on the best public health information available and should allow DOHMH to determine the appropriate enforcement mechanisms, given the significant resources required for monitoring, investigation, and administration of civil penalties.  

 Int.1390-2025: Cooling tower inspections in heat-related emergencies. 

Sponsors: Lynn C. Schulman, Tiffany Cabán, Justin L. Brannan 

This bill would amend existing cooling tower inspection requirements by mandating that, during a heat-related emergency, inspections and microbial testing occur within 14 days of either the most recent inspection/testing date or the onset of the emergency—whichever comes first. This change would effectively require inspections as frequently as every 30 days while towers are in use. 

REBNY recognizes the public health rationale for more frequent inspections during periods of elevated risk. At the same time, we remain concerned about the feasibility of increased testing, particularly regarding the capacity of the companies who conduct the testing and cleaning, building owners, and DOHMH to meet these additional requirements. We encourage further discussion on how to balance public health benefits with realistic compliance timelines given the capacity of the companies and workforce to meet any additional requirements.