S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
3355
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
February 6, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the testing of
newborns for spinal muscular atrophy and public education thereon
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (a) of section 2500-a of the
public health law, as amended by chapter 307 of the laws of 2018, is
amended to read as follows:
1. It shall be the duty of the administrative officer or other person
in charge of each institution caring for infants twenty-eight days or
less of age and the person required in pursuance of the provisions of
section forty-one hundred thirty of this chapter to register the birth
of a child, to cause to have administered to every such infant or child
in its or his care a test for:
i. phenylketonuria[,];
ii. homozygous sickle cell disease[,];
iii. hypothyroidism[,];
iv. branched-chain ketonuria[,];
v. galactosemia[,];
vi. homocystinuria[,];
vii. critical congenital heart defects through pulse oximetry screen-
ing[,];
viii. with regard to any newborn infant who is identified as, or
suspected of, having a hearing impairment as a result of a screening
conducted pursuant to section twenty-five hundred-g of this title, cause
to be administered to such infant a urine polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) test for cytomegalovirus, unless the parent of the infant objects
thereto; provided that if the commissioner determines that another test
for cytomegalovirus is diagnostically equivalent to or better than the
urine polymerase chain reaction test, the commissioner may, by regu-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09416-01-9
S. 3355 2
lation under this section, allow or require the use of that other test[,
and];
ix. SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY; AND
X. such other diseases and conditions as may from time to time be
designated by the commissioner in accordance with rules or regulations
prescribed by the commissioner.
§ 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2500-1
to read as follows:
§ 2500-1. SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY PUBLIC EDUCATION. 1. THE DEPARTMENT
SHALL DEVELOP AND PUBLISH INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS FOR WOMEN WHO MAY
BECOME PREGNANT, EXPECTANT PARENTS AND PARENTS OF INFANTS REGARDING:
(A) THE INCIDENCE OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY;
(B) THE RISKS OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY;
(C) BIRTH DEFECTS CAUSED BY SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY;
(D) METHODS OF DIAGNOSING SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY; AND
(E) AVAILABLE METHODS OF TREATING SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY AND
RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR FAMILIES OF CHILDREN BORN WITH SPINAL MUSCULAR
ATROPHY.
2. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL PUBLISH THE INFORMATION REQUIRED PURSUANT TO
SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION ON ITS INTERNET WEBSITE, AND DISTRIBUTE
INFORMATION REGARDING BIRTH DEFECTS, TREATMENT AND RESOURCES TO ALL
HOSPITALS PERFORMING SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY TESTING PURSUANT TO SECTION
TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED-A OF THIS TITLE.
3. THE DEPARTMENT MAY PROMULGATE RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE PURPOSES OF
THIS SECTION.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately; except that section one
of this act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
of section one of this act on its effective date are authorized and
directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.