NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1468
SPONSOR: Paulin
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to certificates of
qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to certificates of
qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks
 
PURPOSE:
To make minor technical and clarifying changes to the public health law
in relation to certificates of qualification for clinical laboratories
and blood banks.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill amends Chapter 562 of the Laws of 2024 by clarifying those
minimum qualifications for lab directors are prescribed by the Depart-
ment of Health and in accordance with federal regulations and removing
the ability for the sanitary code to prescribe qualifications for labo-
ratory directors.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) are feder-
al regulations that created standards for US facilities that test human
specimens for research or to diagnose or treat disease. It required
these facilities to be certified by the Department of Health and Human
Services. However, if a state's requirements are at least as stringent
as the federal rules for clinical laboratories, that state can be exempt
from CLIA requirements.
Minor technical and conforming changes were necessary to clarify the
Department of Health's authority in prescribing minimum qualifications
for lab directors.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:
None noted.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the same date in the same manner as a
chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the public health law relating to
certificates of qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks,
as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8966-A and A. 9235-A, takes
effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1468
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to certificates of
qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 573 of the public health law, as
2 amended by a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the public health law
3 relating to certificates of qualification for clinical laboratories and
4 blood banks, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8966-A and A.
5 9235-A, is amended to read as follows:
6 1. The department shall issue a certificate of qualification to any
7 person who meets [prescribed] minimum qualifications [under], prescribed
8 by the department and in accordance with federal regulations, including
9 board certification as required, and who otherwise demonstrates to the
10 department that such person possesses the character, competence, train-
11 ing and ability to administer properly the technical and scientific
12 operation of a clinical laboratory or blood bank, including supervision
13 of procedures and reporting of findings of tests.
14 § 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 5 of section 225 of the public
15 health law, as amended by chapter 571 of the laws of 1976, is amended to
16 read as follows:
17 (b) prescribe the qualifications of public health personnel of the
18 department, directors of divisions, regional health directors, state
19 district health officers, local health officers; [directors or other
20 persons in charge of laboratories;] county and city health commission-
21 ers, deputy and assistant county or city health commissioners; public
22 health administrators; county health directors and deputy and assistant
23 county health directors; directors of county physically handicapped
24 children's programs; directors of medical care (local assistance
25 programs); public health nurses; public health physical therapists;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02906-01-5
A. 1468 2
1 public health educators; nurse-midwives; medical social workers; public
2 health social workers; radiation safety officers; sanitary and public
3 health engineers, sanitarians, sanitary inspectors; public health veter-
4 inarians; operators of public water treatment and purification plants;
5 and the qualifications of persons not paid from public funds and who are
6 appointed and employed after January first, nineteen hundred forty-sev-
7 en, as operators of water treatment or purification plants owned or
8 operated by water companies, corporations or by a person or group of
9 persons serving the general public residing in a political subdivision
10 or any part thereof;
11 § 3. This act shall take effect on the same date in the same manner as
12 a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the public health law relating to
13 certificates of qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks,
14 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8966-A and A. 9235-A, takes
15 effect.