Bill Text: NY S06971 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to lead screening and lead poisoning prevention; includes kindergarten students.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-04-25 - PRINT NUMBER 6971A [S06971 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S06971-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6971--A 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE December 15, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HAMILTON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules -- recommitted to the Committee on Health 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 public health law, in relation to granting schools access to a student's blood lead test results in the statewide immuni- zation information system; lead screening of child care or pre-school enrollees and kindergarten students; the definition of elevated blood levels; and appointments to the advisory council on lead poisoning prevention The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 6 of section 1370 of the public health law, as 2 amended by chapter 485 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 6. "Elevated lead levels" means a blood lead level greater than or 5 equal to [ten] five micrograms of lead per deciliter of whole blood or 6 such lower blood lead level as may be established by the department 7 pursuant to rule or regulation. 8 § 2. (a) Within 90 days after the date on which this act takes effect, 9 the department of health shall adopt all necessary regulations to define 10 "elevated lead levels" to mean a blood lead level greater than or equal 11 to 5 micrograms per deciliter of whole blood, or such lower blood lead 12 level as the department may establish, to be utilized in its lead 13 poisoning prevention program. The department shall be authorized to 14 promulgate regulations on an emergency basis to implement the provisions 15 of this act. 16 (b) Within 6 months after the date on which the federal department of 17 health and human services has published guidance recommending a lower 18 concentration of lead in blood than the concentration established pursu- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13857-02-8S. 6971--A 2 1 ant to section one of this act as the reference level for follow-up 2 testing, nutritional and developmental assessments and counseling or 3 environmental assessments or investigations, the department of health 4 shall publish a notice of proposed rule making to consider the incorpo- 5 ration of such guidance into its regulations. 6 § 3. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (d) of subdivision 8 of section 7 2168 of the public health law, as amended by chapter 154 of the laws of 8 2013, is amended to read as follows: 9 (i) schools for the purpose of verifying immunization status for 10 eligibility for admission and for the purpose of confirming students 11 have been screened for elevated blood lead levels when entering child 12 care, pre-school or kindergarten, and identifying individual student 13 blood lead information for the provision of appropriate educational 14 training on lead and the dangers of lead to the student and the parents 15 or legal guardians of the student as well as information on programs 16 that are available to the student and the parents or legal guardians of 17 the student; 18 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 1370-b of the public health law, as 19 added by section 79 of part A of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is 20 amended to read as follows: 21 1. The New York state advisory council on lead poisoning prevention is 22 hereby established in the department, to consist of the following, or 23 their designees: the commissioner; the commissioner of labor; the 24 commissioner of environmental conservation; the commissioner of housing 25 and community renewal; the commissioner of children and family services; 26 the commissioner of temporary and disability assistance; the secretary 27 of state; and fifteen public members, of which nine shall be appointed 28 by the governor, three by the speaker of the assembly and three by the 29 temporary president of the senate. The public members shall have a 30 demonstrated expertise or interest in lead poisoning prevention and at 31 least one public member shall be representative of each of the follow- 32 ing: local government; community groups; labor unions; real estate; 33 industry; parents; educators; local housing authorities; child health 34 advocates; environmental groups; professional medical organizations and 35 hospitals. The public members of the council shall have fixed terms of 36 three years; except that five of the initial appointments shall be for 37 two years and five shall be for one year. The council shall be chaired 38 by the commissioner or his or her designee. 39 § 5. Section 1370-d of the public health law, as added by chapter 485 40 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows: 41 § 1370-d. Lead screening of child care or pre-school enrollees and 42 kindergarten students. 1. Except as provided pursuant to regulations of 43 the department, each child care provider, public and private nursery 44 school and pre-school licensed, certified or approved by any state or 45 local agency, and every school district enrolling students in kindergar- 46 ten shall, prior to or within three months after initial enrollment of a 47 child under [six] seven years of age, obtain from a parent or guardian 48 of the child evidence that said child has been screened for lead. 49 2. Whenever there exists no evidence of lead screening as provided for 50 in subdivision one of this section or other acceptable evidence of the 51 child's screening for lead, the child care provider, principal, teacher, 52 owner or person in charge of the nursery school [or], pre-school or 53 kindergarten shall provide the parent or guardian of the child with 54 information on lead poisoning in children and lead poisoning prevention 55 and refer the parent or guardian to a primary care provider or the local 56 health authority.S. 6971--A 3 1 3. (a) If any parent or guardian to such child is unable to obtain 2 lead testing, such person may present such child to the health officer 3 of the county in which the child resides, who shall then perform or 4 arrange for the required screening. 5 (b) The local public health district shall develop and implement a fee 6 schedule for households with incomes in excess of two hundred percent of 7 the federal poverty level for lead screening pursuant to section six 8 hundred six of this chapter, which shall vary depending on patient 9 household income. 10 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
