STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6319--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 21, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse -- recommitted to the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to setting standards
for addiction professionals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 19.07 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chap-
2 ter 223 of the laws of 1992, subdivisions (a) and (g) as amended by
3 chapter 271 of the laws of 2010, subdivisions (b) and (c) as amended by
4 chapter 281 of the laws of 2019, subdivision (d) as amended by section 5
5 of part I of chapter 58 of the laws of 2005 and the opening paragraph of
6 paragraph 1 of subdivision (d) as amended by chapter 449 of the laws of
7 2021, subdivision (e) as amended by chapter 558 of the laws of 1999,
8 subdivision (f) as added by chapter 383 of the laws of 1998, subdivision
9 (h) as separately amended by chapters 322 and 494 of the laws of 2021,
10 subdivision (i) as amended by section 31-a of part AA of chapter 56 of
11 the laws of 2019, subdivision (j) as amended by chapter 146 of the laws
12 of 2014, subdivision (k) as added by chapter 40 of the laws of 2014,
13 subdivision (l) as added by chapter 323 of the laws of 2018, subdivision
14 (m) as added by chapter 493 of the laws of 2019 and subdivision (n) as
15 added by chapter 190 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
16 § 19.07 Office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
17 services and supports; scope of responsibilities.
18 (a) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
19 services and supports is charged with the responsibility for assuring
20 the development of comprehensive plans, programs, and services in the
21 areas of research, prevention, care, treatment, rehabilitation, includ-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10782-02-2
S. 6319--A 2
1 ing relapse prevention and recovery maintenance, education, and training
2 of persons who [abuse or are dependent on alcohol and/or substances]
3 have or are at risk of an addictive disorder and their families. The
4 term addictive disorder shall include compulsive gambling education,
5 prevention and treatment consistent with section 41.57 of this chapter.
6 Such plans, programs, and services shall be developed with the cooper-
7 ation of the office, the other offices of the department where appropri-
8 ate, local governments, consumers and community organizations and enti-
9 ties. The office shall provide appropriate facilities and shall
10 encourage the provision of facilities by local government and community
11 organizations and entities. [The office is also responsible for develop-
12 ing plans, programs and services related to compulsive gambling educa-
13 tion, prevention and treatment consistent with section 41.57 of this
14 chapter.]
15 (b) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
16 services and supports shall advise and assist the governor in improving
17 services and developing policies designed to meet the needs of persons
18 who suffer from or are at risk of an addictive disorder and their fami-
19 lies, and to encourage their rehabilitation, maintenance of recovery,
20 and functioning in society.
21 (c) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
22 services and supports shall have the responsibility for seeing that
23 persons who suffer from or are at risk of an addictive disorder and
24 their families are provided with addiction services, care and treatment,
25 and that such services, care, treatment and rehabilitation is of high
26 quality and effectiveness, and that the personal and civil rights of
27 persons seeking and receiving addiction services, care, treatment and
28 rehabilitation are adequately protected.
29 (d) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
30 services and supports shall foster programs for the training and devel-
31 opment of persons capable of providing the foregoing services, including
32 but not limited to a process of issuing, either directly or through
33 contract, licenses, credentials, certificates or authorizations for
34 [alcoholism and substance abuse counselors or gambling] addiction [coun-
35 selors] professionals in accordance with the following:
36 (1) The office shall establish minimum qualifications [for counselors]
37 and a definition of the practice of the profession of an addiction
38 professional in all phases of delivery of services to persons and their
39 families who are suffering from [alcohol and/or substance abuse and/or
40 chemical dependence and/or compulsive gambling that shall include] or
41 are at risk of an addictive disorder including, but not be limited to,
42 completion of approved courses of study or equivalent on-the-job experi-
43 ence in [alcoholism and substance abuse counseling and/or counseling of
44 compulsive gambling] addiction disorder services. Such approved courses
45 of study or equivalent on-the-job experience shall include: providing
46 trauma-informed, patient-centered care; referring individuals to appro-
47 priate treatments for co-occurring disorders; and sensitivity training.
48 Such courses shall be updated as needed to reflect evolving best prac-
49 tices in harm reduction, treatment and long-term recovery. For the
50 purposes of this paragraph, sensitivity training shall mean a form of
51 training with the goal of making people more aware of their own preju-
52 dices and more sensitive to others.
53 (i) The office shall establish procedures for issuing, directly or
54 through contract, licenses, credentials, certificates or authorizations
55 to [counselors] addiction professionals who meet minimum qualifications,
56 including the establishment of appropriate fees, and shall further
S. 6319--A 3
1 establish procedures to suspend, revoke, or annul such licenses, creden-
2 tials, certificates or authorizations for good cause. Such procedures
3 shall be promulgated by the commissioner by rule or regulation.
4 (ii) The commissioner shall establish [a credentialing] an addiction
5 professionals board which shall provide advice concerning the licensing,
6 credentialing, certification or authorization process.
7 (iii) The commissioner shall establish fees for the education, train-
8 ing, licensing, credentialing, certification or authorization of
9 addiction professionals.
10 (2) The establishment, with the advice of the advisory council on
11 alcoholism and substance abuse services, of minimum qualifications for
12 [counselors] addiction professionals in all phases of delivery of
13 services to those suffering from [alcoholism, substance and/or chemical
14 abuse and/or dependence and/or compulsive gambling] or at risk of addic-
15 tive disorders and their families that shall include, but not be limited
16 to, completion of approved courses of study or equivalent on-the-job
17 experience in [counseling for alcoholism, substance and/or chemical
18 abuse and/or dependence] addiction disorder services and/or [compulsive]
19 gambling disorder services, and establish appropriate fees, issue
20 licenses, credentials, certificates or authorizations to [counselors]
21 addiction professionals who meet minimum qualifications and suspend,
22 revoke, or annul such licenses, credentials, certificates or authori-
23 zations for good cause in accordance with procedures promulgated by the
24 commissioner by rule or regulation.
25 (3) For the purpose of this title, the term "addiction professional",
26 including "credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor" or
27 "C.A.S.A.C.", means an official designation identifying an individual as
28 one who holds a currently registered and valid license, credential,
29 certificate or authorization issued or approved by the office of [alco-
30 holism and substance abuse services] addiction services and supports
31 pursuant to this section which documents an individual's qualifications
32 to provide [alcoholism and substance abuse counseling] addiction disor-
33 der services. The term "gambling addiction [counselor"] professional"
34 means an official designation identifying an individual as one who holds
35 a currently registered and valid license, credential, certificate or
36 authorization issued by the office of [alcoholism and substance abuse
37 services] addiction services and supports pursuant to this section which
38 documents an individual's qualifications to provide [compulsive] gambl-
39 ing [counseling] disorder services.
40 (i) No person shall use the title [credentialed alcoholism and
41 substance abuse counselor or "C.A.S.A.C." or gambling addiction counse-
42 lor] "addiction professional" or the title given to any licenses,
43 credentials, certificates or authorizations issued by the office unless
44 authorized [pursuant to] by the commissioner in accordance with this
45 title.
46 (ii) Failure to comply with the requirements of this section shall
47 constitute a violation as defined in the penal law.
48 (4) All persons holding previously issued and valid alcoholism or
49 substance abuse counselor credentials issued by the office or an entity
50 designated by the office, including a credentialed alcoholism and
51 substance abuse counselor, certified prevention specialist, credentialed
52 prevention professional, credentialed problem gambling counselor, gambl-
53 ing specialty designation, and certified recovery peer advocate, on the
54 effective date of amendments to this section shall be deemed [C.A.S.A.C.
55 designated] an addiction professional consistent with their experience
56 and education.
S. 6319--A 4
1 (e) Consistent with the requirements of subdivision (b) of section
2 5.05 of this chapter, the office shall carry out the provisions of arti-
3 cle thirty-two of this chapter as such article pertains to regulation
4 and quality control of [chemical dependence] addiction disorder
5 services, including but not limited to the establishment of standards
6 for determining the necessity and appropriateness of care and services
7 provided by [chemical dependence] addiction disorder providers of
8 services. In implementing this subdivision, the commissioner, in consul-
9 tation with the commissioner of health, shall adopt standards including
10 necessary rules and regulations including but not limited to those for
11 determining the necessity or appropriate level of admission, controlling
12 the length of stay and the provision of services, and establishing the
13 methods and procedures for making such determination.
14 (f) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
15 services and supports shall develop a list of all agencies throughout
16 the state which are currently certified by the office and are capable of
17 and available to provide evaluations in accordance with section sixty-
18 five-b of the alcoholic beverage control law so as to determine need for
19 treatment pursuant to such section and to assure the availability of
20 such evaluation services by a certified agency within a reasonable
21 distance of every court of a local jurisdiction in the state. Such list
22 shall be updated on a regular basis and shall be made available to every
23 supreme court law library in this state, or, if no supreme court law
24 library is available in a certain county, to the county court library of
25 such county. The commissioner may establish an annual fee for inclusion
26 on such list.
27 (g) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
28 services and supports shall develop and maintain a list of the names and
29 locations of all licensed agencies and [alcohol and substance abuse]
30 addiction professionals, as defined in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdi-
31 vision one of section eleven hundred ninety-eight-a of the vehicle and
32 traffic law, throughout the state which are capable of and available to
33 provide an assessment of, and treatment for, [alcohol and substance
34 abuse and dependency] addiction disorders. Such list shall be provided
35 to the chief administrator of the office of court administration and the
36 commissioner of motor vehicles. Persons who may be aggrieved by an agen-
37 cy decision regarding inclusion on the list may request an administra-
38 tive appeal in accordance with rules and regulations of the office. The
39 commissioner may establish an annual fee for inclusion on such list.
40 (h) The office of addiction services and supports shall monitor
41 programs providing care and treatment to incarcerated individuals in
42 correctional facilities operated by the department of corrections and
43 community supervision who have a history of [alcohol or substance use
44 disorder or dependence] an addiction disorder. The office shall also
45 develop guidelines for the operation of [alcohol and substance use
46 disorder treatment programs] addiction disorder services in such correc-
47 tional facilities, based on best practices, and tailored to the nature
48 of the individual's substance use, history of past treatment, and histo-
49 ry of mental illness or trauma, which may include harm reduction strate-
50 gies, in order to ensure that such [programs] services sufficiently meet
51 the needs of incarcerated individuals with a history of [alcohol or
52 substance use disorder or dependence] an addiction disorder and promote
53 the successful transition to treatment in the community upon release. No
54 later than the first day of December of each year, the office shall
55 submit a report regarding: (1) the adequacy and effectiveness of [alco-
56 hol and substance use disorder treatment programs] addiction disorder
S. 6319--A 5
1 services operated by the department of corrections and community super-
2 vision; (2) the total number of incarcerated individuals in correctional
3 facilities that have been screened for, and determined to have, [a
4 substance use] an addiction disorder; (3) information regarding which
5 substances incarcerated individuals are most dependent upon and the
6 available treatment for such individuals within each correctional facil-
7 ity; (4) the total number of individuals who participate in each of the
8 [treatment programs] addiction disorder services operated by the depart-
9 ment of corrections and community supervision; and (5) the total number
10 of individuals who participated in [a substance use disorder treatment
11 program] addiction disorder services but failed to complete such
12 [program] services, as well as whether such failure to complete [the
13 program] such addiction disorder services was a result of disciplinary
14 action taken by the facility against the individual for instances unre-
15 lated to their participation in [the treatment program] such services.
16 The department of corrections and community supervision shall provide
17 the office with information needed to complete this report. Such report
18 shall be sent to the governor, the temporary president of the senate,
19 the speaker of the assembly, the chairman of the senate committee on
20 crime victims, crime and correction, and the chairman of the assembly
21 committee on correction.
22 (i) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
23 services and supports shall periodically, in consultation with the state
24 director of veterans' services: (1) review the programs operated by the
25 office to ensure that the needs of the state's veterans who served in
26 the U.S. armed forces and who are recovering from [alcohol and/or
27 substance abuse] an addiction disorder are being met and to develop
28 improvements to programs to meet such needs; and (2) in collaboration
29 with the state director of veterans' services and the commissioner of
30 the office of mental health, review and make recommendations to improve
31 programs that provide treatment, rehabilitation, relapse prevention, and
32 recovery services to veterans who have served in a combat theatre or
33 combat zone of operations and have a co-occurring mental health and
34 [alcoholism or substance abuse] addiction disorder.
35 (j) The office, in consultation with the state education department,
36 shall identify or develop materials on problem gambling among school-age
37 youth which may be used by school districts and boards of cooperative
38 educational services, at their option, to educate students on the
39 dangers and consequences of problem gambling as they deem appropriate.
40 Such materials shall be available on the internet website of the state
41 education department. The internet website of the office shall provide a
42 hyperlink to the internet page of the state education department that
43 displays such materials.
44 (k) Heroin and opioid addiction awareness and education program. The
45 commissioner, in cooperation with the commissioner of the department of
46 health, shall develop and conduct a public awareness and educational
47 campaign on heroin and opioid addiction. The campaign shall utilize
48 public forums, social media and mass media, including, but not limited
49 to, internet, radio, and print advertising such as billboards and post-
50 ers and shall also include posting of materials and information on the
51 office website. The campaign shall be tailored to educate youth,
52 parents, healthcare professionals and the general public regarding: (1)
53 the risks associated with the abuse and misuse of heroin and opioids;
54 (2) how to recognize the signs of addiction; and (3) the resources
55 available for those needing assistance with heroin or opioid addiction.
56 The campaign shall further be designed to enhance awareness of the
S. 6319--A 6
1 opioid overdose prevention program authorized pursuant to section thir-
2 ty-three hundred nine of the public health law and the "Good Samaritan
3 law" established pursuant to sections 220.03 and 220.78 of the penal law
4 and section 390.40 of the criminal procedure law, and to reduce the
5 stigma associated with addiction.
6 (l) The office of [alcoholism and substance abuse services] addiction
7 services and supports, in consultation with the state education depart-
8 ment, shall develop or utilize existing educational materials to be
9 provided to school districts and boards of cooperative educational
10 services for use in addition to or in conjunction with any drug and
11 alcohol related curriculum regarding the misuse and abuse of alcohol,
12 tobacco, prescription medication and other drugs with an increased focus
13 on substances that are most prevalent among school aged youth as such
14 term is defined in section eight hundred four of the education law. Such
15 materials shall be age appropriate for school age children, and to the
16 extent practicable, shall include information or resources for parents
17 to identify the warning signs and address the risks of substance [abuse]
18 misuse and addiction.
19 (m) (1) The office shall report on the status and outcomes of initi-
20 atives created in response to the heroin and opioid epidemic to the
21 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the
22 chairs of the assembly and senate committees on alcoholism and drug
23 abuse, the chair of the assembly ways and means committee and the chair
24 of the senate finance committee.
25 (2) Such reports shall include, to the extent practicable and applica-
26 ble, information on:
27 (i) The number of individuals enrolled in the initiative in the
28 preceding quarter;
29 (ii) The number of individuals who completed the treatment program in
30 the preceding quarter;
31 (iii) The number of individuals discharged from the treatment program
32 in the preceding quarter;
33 (iv) The age and sex of the individuals served;
34 (v) Relevant regional data about the individuals;
35 (vi) The populations served; and
36 (vii) The outcomes and effectiveness of each initiative surveyed.
37 (3) Such initiatives shall include opioid treatment programs, crisis
38 detoxification programs, 24/7 open access centers, adolescent club hous-
39 es, family navigator programs, peer engagement specialists, recovery
40 community and outreach centers, regional addiction resource centers and
41 the state implementation of the federal opioid state targeted response
42 initiatives.
43 (4) Such information shall be provided quarterly, beginning no later
44 than July first, two thousand nineteen.
45 (n) The office in consultation with the office of mental health, the
46 department of health, the division of housing and community renewal and
47 any other agency that may oversee an appropriate program or service
48 shall monitor and ensure funds appropriated pursuant to section ninety-
49 nine-nn of the state finance law are expended for services and programs
50 in accordance with such section.
51 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
