S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  1358--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              January 8, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. MAGNARELLI, DICKENS, SAYEGH, COOK -- read once
   and referred  to  the  Committee  on  Higher  Education  --  committee
   discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
   to said committee
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the education law, in relation to the license require-
   ments for the practice of respiratory therapy
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  2  of  section 8504 of the education law, as
 added by chapter 817 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
   2. Education: have received an education, including completion  of  an
 approved  [associate]  BACHELOR degree program in respiratory therapy or
 in a program determined by the department to be the equivalent;
   § 2. Section 8507 of the education law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 closing paragraph to read as follows:
   SUBDIVISION  TWO  OF  SECTION EIGHTY-FIVE HUNDRED FOUR OF THIS ARTICLE
 SHALL NOT APPLY TO ANY PERSON LICENSED AS A RESPIRATORY THERAPIST ON THE
 EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS  OF  TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-ONE
 THAT ADDED THIS PARAGRAPH.
   § 3. Section 8513 of the education law, as added by chapter 817 of the
 laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
   § 8513. Special  provisions.  1.  A  person  shall be licensed without
 examination provided that, within one year of the effective date of this
 article, the individual:
   [1.](A) files an application and pays  the  appropriate  fees  to  the
 department; and
   [2.  (a)](B)(1)  is  certified by a national certifying or accrediting
 board for respiratory therapy technicians acceptable to the  department,
 or
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01805-02-1

              

 A. 1358--A                          2
 
   [(b)](2) has practiced as a respiratory therapy technician in a hospi-
 tal, as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law, in the
 state for not less than two years within the last five years, or
   [(c)](3)  has  met the educational standards of a hospital, as defined
 in article twenty-eight of the public health law, or, in the case  of  a
 hospital  operated  by  a public benefit corporation, has met the educa-
 tional standards of such corporation, and has practiced as a respiratory
 therapy technician for at least one year in such hospital.
   2. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL NOT ACCEPT NEW  APPLICATIONS  FOR  AN  INITIAL
 LICENSE  AS  A  RESPIRATORY  THERAPY  TECHNICIAN,  PROVIDED HOWEVER THAT
 LICENSES ISSUED PRIOR TO THAT DATE SHALL BE ELIGIBLE FOR RENEWAL SUBJECT
 TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately;  provided  that  sections
 one  and  two of this act shall take effect on the first of September in
 the seventh year next succeeding the year in which it shall have  become
 a law and shall only apply to the issuance of initial licenses, with the
 exception  that  any individual enrolled in an approved associate degree
 program in respiratory therapy or in a program determined by the depart-
 ment to be the equivalent as of the first of September  in  the  seventh
 year  next succeeding the year in which this act shall have become a law
 may receive an initial license upon graduation from the associate degree
 program, but at the conclusion of the initial triennial licensure  peri-
 od,  such  individual  must  have completed a bachelor degree program in
 respiratory therapy or a program to be determined by the  department  to
 be the equivalent as a condition of renewing their license.