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DGA Chair Distances from Cuomo's New Gun Control Law

January 15, 2013

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D.) appeared on PBS "Newshour" Tuesday and did not endorse a new law passed in New York that requires health care providers to report to state authorities patients believed to be at risk of causing harm to themselves or others, a stipulation that has raised privacy concerns.

JEFFREY BROWN: On the mental health issue, again, I was looking at the new law that is being put forward in New York. Now, that would require mental health professionals to report patients to mental health authorities, patients who are considered likely to harm themselves or others. That would raise various confidentiality, privacy issues, of course. Would you go that far? What do you want to see done?

JACK MARKELL: So, our proposal -- again, our proposals have not taken that step. What we did a couple years ago is, we required reporting to the national database from the appropriate cases here in the state of Delaware. Before, we weren't reporting any cases, because state law didn't allow it. Now we're actually second in the country in terms of reporting these folks to the national database. It's safe. It's appropriate. We think that's the right way to go.

The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is a 2016 presidential candidate and his state's gun legislation is speculated as a positioning himself for the White House.

Markell is the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.