S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6446
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the public health law, the education law, the vehicle
and traffic law, and the judiciary law, in relation to making conform-
ing changes reflecting the previously authorized scope of practice of
nurse practitioners
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions 28 and 31 of section 206 of the public health
law, subdivision 28 as added by chapter 496 of the laws of 2011 and
subdivision 31 as added by chapter 500 of the laws of 2021, are amended
to read as follows:
28. The commissioner shall assist the commissioner of education in
developing rules and regulations, relating to pupils who suffer mild
traumatic brain injuries AND THE PHYSICIANS AND NURSE PRACTITIONERS
AUTHORIZED TO EVALUATE SUCH PUPILS, in accordance with subdivision
forty-two of section three hundred five of the education law, and
provide for the posting on the department's internet website of such
information as shall be required pursuant to such subdivision.
31. The commissioner shall develop information, in conjunction with
the commissioner of education related to students who exhibit signs or
symptoms of pending or increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Such
information shall include, but not be limited to, the definition of
sudden cardiac arrest, signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, AND
INFORMATION FOR THE PHYSICIANS AND NURSE PRACTITIONERS AUTHORIZED TO
EVALUATE WHETHER A STUDENT MAY RESUME ATHLETIC ACTIVITY. Such informa-
tion shall be posted on the department's website.
§ 2. Subparagraph (iii) of paragraph a of subdivision 42 of section
305 of the education law, as added by chapter 496 of the laws of 2011,
is amended to read as follows:
(iii) requiring the immediate removal from athletic activities of any
pupil believed to have sustained or who has sustained a mild traumatic
brain injury. In the event that there is any doubt as to whether a pupil
has sustained a concussion, it shall be presumed that he or she has been
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10600-01-3
A. 6446 2
so injured until proven otherwise. No such pupil shall resume athletic
activity until he or she shall have been symptom free for not less than
twenty-four hours, and has been evaluated by and received written and
signed authorization from a licensed physician OR A CERTIFIED NURSE
PRACTITIONER. Such authorization shall be kept on file in the pupil's
permanent health record. Furthermore, such rules and regulations shall
provide guidelines for limitations and restrictions on school attendance
and activities for pupils who have sustained mild traumatic brain inju-
ries, consistent with the directives of the pupil's treating physician
OR A NURSE PRACTITIONER.
§ 3. Subdivision b of section 923 of the education law, as added by
chapter 500 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
b. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations requiring
that any student displaying signs or symptoms of pending or increased
risk of sudden cardiac arrest shall be immediately removed from athletic
activities and shall not resume athletic activity until he or she has
been evaluated by and received written and signed authorization from a
licensed physician OR A CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER. Such authori-
zation shall be kept on file in the pupil's permanent health record.
§ 4. Section 3624 of the education law, as amended by chapter 529 of
the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
§ 3624. Drivers, monitors and attendants. The commissioner shall
determine and define the qualifications of drivers, monitors and attend-
ants and shall make the rules and regulations governing the operation of
all transportation facilities used by pupils which rules and regulations
shall include, but not be limited to, a maximum speed of fifty-five
miles per hour for school vehicles engaged in pupil transportation that
are operated on roads, interstates or other highways, parkways or bridg-
es or portions thereof that have posted speed limits in excess of
fifty-five miles per hour, prohibitions relating to smoking, eating and
drinking and any and all other acts or conduct which would otherwise
impair the safe operation of such transportation facilities while actu-
ally being used for the transport of pupils. The employment of each
driver, monitor and attendant shall be approved by the chief school
administrator of a school district for each school bus operated within
his or her district. For the purpose of determining his or her physical
fitness, each driver, monitor and attendant may be examined on order of
the chief school administrator by a duly licensed physician OR NURSE
PRACTITIONER within two weeks prior to the beginning of service in each
school year as a school bus driver, monitor or attendant. The report of
the physician OR CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER, in writing, shall be
considered by the chief school administrator in determining the fitness
of the driver to operate or continue to operate any transportation
facilities used by pupils and in determining the fitness of any monitor
or attendant to carry out his or her functions on such transportation
facilities. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a school district
from imposing a more restrictive speed limit policy for the operation of
school vehicles engaged in pupil transportation than the speed limit
policy established by the commissioner.
§ 5. Paragraph (i) of subdivision 1 and subdivision 3 of section
1203-a of the vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (i) of subdivision 1 as
amended by chapter 180 of the laws of 1996 and subdivision 3 as amended
by chapter 220 of the laws of 1984, are amended to read as follows:
(i) any resident of New York state who is a severely disabled person,
as defined in subdivision [three] FOUR of section four hundred four-a of
this chapter, upon application of such person or such person's parent or
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guardian, provided, however, that an issuing agent shall issue permits
only to residents of the city, town or village in which such issuing
agent is located, except that, an issuing agent, in his or her
discretion, may issue a permit to a severely disabled person who is not
a resident of the city, town, or village in which such issuing agent is
located where such person resides in a city, town, or village in which
the governing body has not appointed an issuing agent; and an issuing
agent, in his or her discretion, may issue a temporary special vehicle
identification parking permit, as authorized by subdivision three of
this section, to a person who is temporarily unable to ambulate without
the aid of an assisting device, as certified by [a physician] ANY
HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER AUTHORIZED TO CERTIFY THAT AN INDIVIDUAL IS
SEVERELY DISABLED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION FOUR OF SECTION FOUR HUNDRED
FOUR-A OF THIS CHAPTER, who resides in a city, town, or village in which
the issuing agent does not issue temporary special vehicle identifica-
tion parking permits, or who is not a resident of the United States and
is temporarily visiting the state; or
3. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, any
municipality may issue a temporary special vehicle identification park-
ing permit to any person who is temporarily unable to ambulate without
the aid of an assisting device, as certified by [a physician] ANY
HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER AUTHORIZED TO CERTIFY THAT AN INDIVIDUAL IS
SEVERELY DISABLED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION FOUR OF SECTION FOUR HUNDRED
FOUR-A OF THIS CHAPTER. Such temporary special vehicle identification
parking permit shall be valid for not more than six months and shall be
recognized statewide.
§ 6. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 1203-h of the vehicle
and traffic law, as added by chapter 243 of the laws of 2007, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) are severely disabled persons, as defined in subdivision four of
section four hundred four-a of this chapter, whose severe disability, as
certified by [a licensed physician] ANY HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER AUTHOR-
IZED TO CERTIFY THAT AN INDIVIDUAL IS SEVERELY DISABLED PURSUANT TO THAT
SUBDIVISION, limits one or more of the following:
(i) fine motor control in both hands;
(ii) ability to reach or access a parking meter due to use of a wheel-
chair or other ambulatory device; or
(iii) ability to reach a height of forty-two inches from the ground
due to the lack of finger, hand or upper extremity strength or mobility.
§ 7. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 12-a of section 375 of the vehicle
and traffic law, as amended by chapter 135 of the laws of 1994, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) Any person required for medical reasons to be shielded from the
direct rays of the sun and/or any person operating a motor vehicle
belonging to such person or in which such person is an habitual passen-
ger shall be exempt from the provisions of subparagraphs one and two of
paragraph (b) of this subdivision provided the commissioner has granted
an exemption and notice of such exemption is affixed to the vehicle as
directed by the commissioner. The applicant for such exemption must
provide a physician's OR NURSE PRACTITIONER'S statement with the reason
for the exemption, the name of the individual with a medically necessary
condition operating or transported in the vehicle, the specific condi-
tion involved, and the minimum level of light transmission required. The
commissioner shall only authorize exemptions where the medical condition
certified by the physician OR NURSE PRACTITIONER is contained on a list
of medical conditions prepared by the commissioner of health pursuant to
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subdivision sixteen of section two hundred six of the public health law.
If such [such] exemption is granted, the commissioner shall make a
record thereof and shall distribute a sufficiently noticeable sticker to
the applicant to be attached to any window so shielded or altered pursu-
ant to such exemption.
§ 8. Paragraph (iii) of subdivision 3 of section 509-d of the vehicle
and traffic law, as added by chapter 675 of the laws of 1985, is amended
to read as follows:
(iii) the initial qualifying medical examination form and the biennial
medical examination form completed by the carrier's physician OR NURSE
PRACTITIONER;
§ 9. Section 509-k of the vehicle and traffic law, as added by chapter
1050 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as follows:
§ 509-k. Ill or fatigued operator. No driver shall operate a bus and a
motor carrier shall not permit a driver to operate a bus while the driv-
er's ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become
impaired, through fatigue, illness or any other cause, as to make it
unsafe for him to begin or continue to operate the bus. At the request
of the driver or the motor carrier such illness, fatigue, or other cause
shall be certified by a qualified physician OR NURSE PRACTITIONER.
However, in a case of grave emergency where the hazard to occupants of
the bus or other users of the highway would be increased by compliance
with this section, the driver may continue to operate the bus to the
nearest place at which that hazard is removed.
§ 10. Subdivision 7 of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic law,
as added by chapter 365 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as
follows:
7. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a passenger or
operator with a physically disabling condition whose physical disability
would prevent appropriate restraint in such safety seat or safety belt
provided, however, such condition is duly certified by a physician OR
NURSE PRACTITIONER who shall state the nature of the handicap, as well
as the reason such restraint is inappropriate.
§ 11. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (a) of section 517 of the judiciary
law, as amended by chapter 380 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read
as follows:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph two of this subdivision,
the commissioner of jurors may, in his or her discretion, on the appli-
cation of a prospective juror who has been summoned to attend, excuse
such prospective juror from a part or the whole of the time of jury
service or may postpone the time of jury service to a later day during
the same or any subsequent term of the court, provided that if the
prospective juror is a breastfeeding mother and submits with her appli-
cation a note from a physician OR NURSE PRACTITIONER indicating that the
prospective juror is breastfeeding, the commissioner shall excuse the
prospective juror or postpone the time of jury service. The application
shall be presented to the commissioner at such time and in such manner
as he or she shall require, except that an application for postponement
of the initial date for jury service may be made by telephone.
§ 12. The amendments to the public health law, education law, vehicle
and traffic law, and judiciary law enacted by this act shall not be
construed to expand or contract the scope of practice of any health care
professional under title 8 of the education law.
§ 13. This act shall take effect immediately.