Senate Bill S7799

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7799

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to exempting
non-resident students at community colleges from the requirement of
maintaining measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and meningococcal
meningitis records


 PURPOSE :
This bill would exempt non-resident students at community colleges
from certain immunization requirements.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Section One of the bill would add a new subdivision 14 to Section 2165
of the Public Health Law to exempt non-resident students at community
colleges from this section of law. Section Two of this bill would add
a new subdivision 7 to Section 2167 of the Public Health Law to exempt
non-resident students at community colleges from this section of law.
Section Three of the bill would provide for an immediate effective
date.

 JUSTIFICATION :
During the first six months of 1989,81% of reported cases of measles
in New York State occurred in 12 outbreaks in post-secondary
institutions. These outbreaks resulted from inadequate immunization or
              

vaccine failure in some students coupled with the close contact in
living and study quarters inherent in the college setting. The
outbreaks resulted in the enactment of Public Health Law (PHL) Section
2165 (effective August 1,1990) that mandated measles, mumps and
rubella immunizations for all full-time (taking 12 or more college
credits) college students born on or after January 1, 1957.  Six
months later, this section required all full time and part time
(taking 6-11 college credits) college students to comply, regardless
of campus residency status.

Section 2165 requires that all students provide documentation of
immunity against measles, mumps, and rubella (2 doses of live measles
vaccine, the first dose given on or after the 1st birthday, the second
given on or after 15 months); live vaccine must have been given on or
after 1/1/68 or evidence of immunity or evidence from physician that
person has had the disease; medical and religious exemptions are
recognized. PHL Section 2167 was enacted on August 15, 2003. This
section requires all students be made aware of information about
meningococcal disease and vaccination. It also requires that all
students provide either proof of immunization to meningitis or
submission of a signed waiver stating that the signee understands the
risks and chooses not to receive the vaccine.

There is some belief by the academic community that these sections of
the Public Health Law are ineffective as they apply to colleges and
universities because of the numerous situations that compromise the
integrity of the "safety net" established by them. Public community
colleges, in particular, are not adequately served, based on
significantly different circumstances found between most community
college students, who commute daily between home, campus, and work,
and their 4-year college and university counterparts who are, for the
most part, based in on-campus residences. This difference has placed
an undue burden on public community colleges, community college
students, and their families. The vast majority of community college
students are commuters who live and work in every part of their
communities. They present no greater risk to the public health than
anyone else, as they do not tend to live and study in the kind of
concentrated environments found on traditional residential campuses
and, therefore, present no more risk to the health of the community
than any other person (faculty, staff, program participant, or
visitor) found on a community college campus. No other community
college constituency is required to meet the conditions of these PHL
sections. In fact, the majority of faculty and staff serving New
York's community colleges, all of whom are not required to comply with
this "protection", were born after the 1/1/57 mandated in the law for
students.

Many community colleges conduct on-campus study programs with current
high school students, like "Upward Bound" and "STEP." As these
students are not "enrolled", they are not required to comply with this
law. Medical and religious exemptions are recognized so, regardless of
compliance with the law, not all students will be immunized, leaving
every campus with certain gaps in protection.  Since 1990, every New
York State kindergartner has been required by law to have been
vaccinated, or otherwise declared immune. This requirement should
render compliance through the 2003 PHL Section 2167 mute as no student
should have been allowed into a public school without such
documentation.

Many community college students attend college one or two classes at a
time, which often places them below the part-time student (>6 credit
hours) threshold. These students are not required to comply. The cost
to administrate this program, in terms of additional staffing;
increased paperwork and filing; critical student communications; lost
instructional time; and added counseling loads, is prohibitive,
reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars each year.
Accordingly, this proposal would exempt non-resident students at
community colleges from the requirements in PHL Sections 2165 and
2167, based on key and significant differences in overall living
conditions from their 4-year and university counterparts, that renders
these sections ineffective for the community colleges.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediate.