Bill Text: NY S08450 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides for the confidentiality of contact tracing information from the identification of individuals who have come in contact with an individual with a confirmed or probable diagnosis of novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-23 - approval memo.69 [S08450 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08450-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8450--C IN SENATE June 3, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, BAILEY, BENJAMIN, BIAGGI, CARLUCCI, COMRIE, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KENNEDY, KRUEGER, LIU, MAY, MYRIE, PARKER, PERSAUD, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, STAVISKY, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the confidentiali- ty of contact tracing information The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Article 21 of the public health law is amended by adding a 2 new title 8 to read as follows: 3 TITLE 8 4 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19 5 Section 2180. Definitions. 6 2181. COVID-19 contact tracing; confidentiality. 7 2182. Regulations. 8 § 2180. Definitions. As used in this title the following terms shall 9 have the following meanings: 10 1. "Contact tracing" means case investigation and identification of 11 principal individuals and contact individuals. 12 2. "Contact tracer" and "contact tracing entity" means an individual 13 or entity employed by or under contract with the state, a local govern- 14 ment, a state or local governmental entity, or an agent thereof, to 15 conduct contact tracing, engage in contact tracing, or receive contact 16 tracing information. 17 3. "Contact tracing information" means any information that includes 18 or can reveal the identity of any principal individual or contact indi- 19 vidual, and any COVID-19-related information or test results, received 20 or collected for the purpose or in the course of contact tracing. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD16487-14-0S. 8450--C 2 1 4. "Contact individual" means an individual who has or may have come 2 in contact with a principal individual or who has or may have been 3 exposed to and possibly infected with COVID-19. 4 5. "Principal individual" means an individual with a confirmed or 5 probable diagnosis of COVID-19. 6 6. "COVID-19" means infection with or the disease caused by the severe 7 acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 8 7. "Immigration authority" means any entity, officer, employee, or 9 government employee or agent thereof charged with or engaged in enforce- 10 ment of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, including the 11 United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or United States 12 Customs and Border Protection, or any successor legislation or entity. 13 8. "De-identified" means, in relation to contact tracing information, 14 that the information cannot identify or be made to identify or be asso- 15 ciated with a particular individual, directly or indirectly and is 16 subject to technical safeguards and policies and procedures that prevent 17 re-identification, whether intentionally or unintentionally, of any 18 individual. 19 9. "Law enforcement agent or entity" means any governmental entity or 20 public servant, or agent, contractor or employee thereof, authorized to 21 investigate, prosecute, or make an arrest for a criminal or civil 22 offense, or engaged in any such activity, but shall not mean the depart- 23 ment, the commissioner, a health district, a county department of 24 health, a county health commissioner, a local board of health, a local 25 health officer, the department of health and mental hygiene of the city 26 of New York, or the commissioner of the department of health and mental 27 hygiene of the city of New York. 28 10. "Support" means resources or services provided to an individual to 29 enable such individual to safely quarantine or isolate, including 30 grocery, meal or pharmacy delivery, laundry services, child or elder 31 care, pet walking, assistance with telephone, internet, or other commu- 32 nication services or devices, health and mental health services, legal 33 services, provision of appropriate living space for individuals who 34 cannot isolate or quarantine at home, and income replacement. "Support" 35 may also include support provided to other individuals for whom the 36 individual commonly provides those resources or services. 37 11. "Permitted purpose" means: 38 (a) disclosure to appropriate health care providers or their personnel 39 for the purpose of the clinical diagnosis, care or treatment of the 40 principal individual or contact individual who is the subject of the 41 information, where an emergency exists and the individual is in immedi- 42 ate need of medical attention and an attempt to secure consent would 43 result in delay of treatment which would increase the risk to the indi- 44 vidual's life or health; 45 (b) facilitating a legally-authorized public health-related action, in 46 relation to a specified principal individual or contact individual, 47 where and only to the extent necessary to protect the public health; or 48 (c) the investigation, prosecution or defense of a civil or legal 49 action for a violation of this title; provided that if the use is initi- 50 ated by a party other than the principal individual or contact individ- 51 ual who is the subject of the contact tracing information, the informa- 52 tion must be highly material and relevant for the purpose. 53 § 2181. COVID-19 contact tracing; confidentiality. 1. (a) All contact 54 tracing information shall be kept confidential by any contact tracer and 55 contact tracing entity, and may not be disclosed except as necessary to 56 carry out contact tracing or a permitted purpose.S. 8450--C 3 1 (b) Where a contact tracer or contact tracing entity discloses contact 2 tracing information for a permitted purpose, the contact tracer or 3 contact tracing entity shall make a record of the disclosure, including 4 to whom it was made, which shall be part of the contact tracing informa- 5 tion. 6 2. (a) An individual may waive the confidentiality provided for by 7 this section, only by a written, informed and voluntary waiver, in plain 8 language and in a language understandable to the individual making the 9 waiver, and not part of any other document. The waiver shall state the 10 scope and limit of the waiver. If an individual lacks the capacity to 11 make a waiver, an individual authorized to consent to health care for 12 the individual, or the individual's legal representative, may make the 13 waiver. However, a waiver of confidentiality is not required to be 14 written if it is solely for the purpose of arranging or providing 15 support for the individual who is the subject of the contact tracing 16 information. 17 (b) A waiver of confidentiality under this section shall only apply 18 for the purpose of arranging or providing support if the individual who 19 is the subject of the contact tracing information provides voluntary 20 informed consent to the arranging or providing of the support. 21 3. A disclosure of contact tracing information authorized under this 22 section shall be limited in scope as to the identity of any individual, 23 the information to be disclosed, and the party to which disclosure may 24 be made, and as necessary to achieve the purpose of the disclosure under 25 this section, and shall not authorize re-disclosure except as explicitly 26 authorized by the terms of the waiver under this section. However, this 27 section does not bar disclosure of contact tracing information pertain- 28 ing to and identifying a principal individual or contact individual by 29 the individual who is identified. 30 4. (a) This section does not bar otherwise-lawful disclosure, 31 possession or use of contact tracing information, including aggregate 32 contact tracing information, that is de-identified. Disclosure, 33 possession or use under this subdivision shall only be for a public 34 health or public health research purpose. 35 (b) A person or entity may only possess or use de-identified contact 36 tracing information if the person or entity maintains technical safe- 37 guards and policies and procedures that prevent re-identification, 38 whether intentional or unintentional, of any individual, as may be 39 required by the commissioner (or the New York city commissioner of 40 health and mental hygiene in the case of contact tracing information 41 collected by or under authority of the New York city department of 42 health and mental hygiene or the New York city health and hospitals 43 corporation). The commissioner (or the New York city commissioner as 44 the case may be) shall require safeguards, policies and procedures under 45 this paragraph as the commissioner deems practicable. 46 (c) Disclosure, possession and use of de-identified contact tracing 47 information under this subdivision shall be only pursuant to approval by 48 the commissioner (or the New York city commissioner of health and mental 49 hygiene in the case of contact tracing information collected by or under 50 authority of the New York city department of health and mental hygiene 51 or the New York city health and hospitals corporation) specifying the 52 purpose, nature and scope of the disclosure, possession and use and 53 measures to ensure that it will comply with this section and the terms 54 of the approval. 55 5. No law enforcement agent or entity or immigration authority shall 56 be a contact tracer or contact tracing entity or engage in contact trac-S. 8450--C 4 1 ing. This subdivision does not bar an individual who is associated with 2 a law enforcement entity or immigration authority from acting only as a 3 principal individual or contact individual. 4 6. No contact tracer or contact tracing entity may provide contact 5 tracing information to a law enforcement agent or entity or immigration 6 authority. Without consent under subdivision two of this section, 7 contact tracing information and any evidence derived therefrom shall not 8 be subject to or provided in response to any legal process or be admis- 9 sible for any purpose in any judicial or administrative action or 10 proceeding. However, this subdivision does not restrict providing infor- 11 mation, relating to a specified principal individual or contact individ- 12 ual, where and only to the extent necessary for a permitted purpose. 13 7. (a) The commissioner (or the New York city commissioner of health 14 and mental hygiene in the case of contact tracing information collected 15 by or under authority of the New York city department of health and 16 mental hygiene or the New York city health and hospitals corporation) 17 shall make regulations to require that contact tracing information 18 possessed, used or under the control of a contact tracer or contact 19 tracing entity shall be subject to technical safeguards and policies and 20 procedures for storage, transmission, use and protection of the informa- 21 tion. The regulations shall prevent possession, use or disclosure of 22 the contact tracing information not permitted by this title, and shall 23 be at least as or more protective than the safeguards, policies and 24 procedures the commissioner (or the New York city commissioner as the 25 case may be) provides for other confidential information. 26 (b) This paragraph applies where contact tracing information is 27 possessed or controlled by a contact tracer or contact tracing entity 28 that is a non-governmental individual or entity employed by or under 29 contract with a governmental entity, or an agent thereof. Within thirty 30 days of collecting or receiving the contact tracing information, the 31 non-governmental individual or entity shall (i) remove information from 32 its possession or control and deliver it to the appropriate governmental 33 contact tracing entity, retaining no copy of it; (ii) expunge the infor- 34 mation from its possession or control; or (iii) de-identify the informa- 35 tion. However, the expungement or de-identification of particular 36 contact tracing information may be postponed for up to fifteen days 37 while the contact tracer or contact tracing entity is actively engaged 38 in contact tracing using that information, provided that the principal 39 individual or contact individual to whom it pertains gives voluntary 40 informed consent. The disclosure, possession and use of the de-identi- 41 fied contact tracing information shall be subject to subdivision four of 42 this section. 43 § 2182. Regulations. The commissioner shall make regulations imple- 44 menting this title. 45 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.