Designates human organ delivery vehicles as authorized emergency vehicles which shall permit the operator of such vehicles certain privileges when involved in an emergency operation.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5670
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 10, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to designating
human organ delivery vehicles as authorized emergency vehicles
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 101 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by
2 chapter 446 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 101. Authorized emergency vehicle. Every ambulance, police vehicle
4 or bicycle, correction vehicle, fire vehicle, civil defense emergency
5 vehicle, emergency ambulance service vehicle, blood delivery vehicle,
6 human organ delivery vehicle, county emergency medical services vehicle,
7 environmental emergency response vehicle, sanitation patrol vehicle,
8 hazardous materials emergency vehicle and ordnance disposal vehicle of
9 the armed forces of the United States.
10 § 2. Section 114-b of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chap-
11 ter 460 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
12 § 114-b. Emergency operation. The operation, or parking, of an author-
13 ized emergency vehicle, when such vehicle is engaged in transporting a
14 sick or injured person, transporting prisoners, delivering blood or
15 blood products or transporting human organs, human tissue or medical
16 personnel for the purpose of organ recovery or transplantation, in a
17 situation involving an imminent health risk, pursuing an actual or
18 suspected violator of the law, or responding to, or working or assisting
19 at the scene of an accident, disaster, police call, alarm of fire, actu-
20 al or potential release of hazardous materials or other emergency.
21 Emergency operation shall not include returning from such service.
22 § 3. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
23 117-e to read as follows:
24 § 117-e. Human organ delivery vehicle. Any vehicle which is operated,
25 authorized or contracted by or on behalf of an organ procurement organ-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07897-01-9
S. 5670 2
1 ization, as defined in subdivision five of section four thousand three
2 hundred sixty of the public health law, for the sole purpose of trans-
3 porting human organs, human tissue, or medical personnel for the purpose
4 of organ recovery or transplantation on an emergency basis. The vehicle
5 must be dedicated to serve as and be clearly identified as an organ
6 transport vehicle, and operators must receive written authorization from
7 the department of health prior to operation of a vehicle in such capaci-
8 ty. No human organ delivery vehicle shall be operated as an authorized
9 emergency vehicle engaged in an emergency operation unless the driver of
10 such vehicle has undergone appropriate training, as approved by the
11 department of health, for the operation of authorized emergency vehicles
12 during emergency operations and a defensive driving course. Nothing in
13 this section shall preclude those persons otherwise approved to operate
14 any other authorized emergency vehicle as defined in section one hundred
15 one of this article from operating such vehicle as a human organ deliv-
16 ery vehicle.
17 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
18 it shall have become a law.