Senate Bill S3469

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3469
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 31, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- 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  communicable
   disease contact tracing
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. The title heading of title 8 of article 21  of  the  public
 health  law,  as added by chapter 377 of the laws of 2020, is amended to
 read as follows:
           [NOVEL CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19] COMMUNICABLE DISEASES;
                              CONTACT TRACING
   § 2. Section 2180 of the public health law, as amended by  chapter  62
 of the laws of 2021, subdivisions 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20
 as  added  by  chapter  829  of  the laws of 2022, is amended to read as
 follows:
   § 2180. Definitions. As used in this title the following  terms  shall
 have the following meanings:
   1. "Contact tracing" means [COVID-19] COMMUNICABLE DISEASE case inves-
 tigation and identification of case individuals and contact individuals.
   2. (a) "Contact tracer" and "contact tracing entity" means an individ-
 ual  or  entity  employed  by  or under contract with the state, a local
 government, a state or local governmental entity, or an  agent  thereof,
 to  conduct  contact  tracing,  engage  in  contact  tracing, or receive
 contact tracing information.
   (b) A contact tracer or contact tracing entity  shall  not  include  a
 service  provider  that is a non-governmental entity that is employed by
 or under contract with a contact tracing entity  or  an  agent  thereof,
 that  receives,  transmits,  maintains, stores, or hosts contact tracing
 information at the direction of a  contact  tracer  or  contact  tracing
 entity  so  long as such service provider's access to the information is
 exclusively limited to  the  maintenance  of  the  information  and  the

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06151-01-3
              

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 contact  tracer  or contact tracing entity has the ability to delete and
 manage contact tracing information as provided  by  this  chapter,  law,
 rules  or  regulations. A service provider under this paragraph shall be
 referred  to  in this title as a "designated non-governmental entity." A
 service provider that does not meet the requirements of  this  paragraph
 and  would  otherwise  be  subject  to paragraph (a) of this subdivision
 shall be a contact tracing entity.
   3. "Contact tracing information" means any information  that  includes
 or can reveal the identity of any case individual or contact individual,
 and  any  [COVID-19-related] COMMUNICABLE DISEASE-RELATED information or
 test results, received or collected for the purpose or in the course  of
 contact tracing.
   4.  "Contact  individual" means an individual who has or may have come
 in contact with a case individual or who has or may have been exposed to
 and possibly infected with [COVID-19] A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE.
   5. "Case individual" means an individual with a confirmed or  probable
 diagnosis of [COVID-19] A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE.
   6.  ["COVID-19"  means  infection  with  or  the disease caused by the
 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
   7.] "Immigration authority" means any entity,  officer,  employee,  or
 government employee or agent thereof charged with or engaged in enforce-
 ment  of  the  federal  Immigration  and  Nationality Act, including the
 United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Depart-
 ment  of  Homeland  Security,  or  United  States  Customs  and   Border
 Protection,  or  agent, contractor or employee thereof, or any successor
 legislation or entity.
   [8.] 7. "De-identified" means, in relation to contact tracing informa-
 tion, that the information cannot identify or be made to identify or  be
 associated  with  a particular individual, directly or indirectly and is
 subject to technical safeguards and policies and procedures that prevent
 re-identification, whether  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  of  any
 individual.
   [9.] 8. "Law enforcement agent or entity" means any governmental enti-
 ty  or public servant, or agent, contractor or employee thereof, author-
 ized to investigate, prosecute, or make an  arrest  for  a  criminal  or
 civil  offense  (except  a  designated civil offense), or engaged in any
 such activity, but shall not mean the department,  the  commissioner,  a
 health  district, a county department of health, a county health commis-
 sioner, a local board of health, a local health officer, the  department
 of health and mental hygiene of the city of New York, or the commission-
 er  of  the  department  of health and mental hygiene of the city of New
 York. As used in this subdivision, "designated civil  offense"  means  a
 civil offense or offenses designated by the commissioner (or the commis-
 sioner  of  the New York city department of health and mental hygiene in
 the case of contact tracing information collected by or under  authority
 of  the New York city department of health and mental hygiene or the New
 York city health and hospitals corporation).
   [10.] 9. "Support" means resources or services provided to an individ-
 ual to enable such individual to safely quarantine or isolate, including
 grocery, meal or pharmacy delivery, laundry  services,  child  or  elder
 care,  pet walking, assistance with telephone, internet, or other commu-
 nication services or devices, health and mental health  services,  legal
 services,  provision  of  appropriate  living  space for individuals who
 cannot isolate or quarantine at home, and income replacement.  "Support"
 may also include support provided to  other  individuals  for  whom  the
 individual commonly provides those resources or services.
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   [11.] 10. "Permitted purpose" means:
   (a) disclosure to appropriate health care providers or their personnel
 for the purpose of the clinical diagnosis, care or treatment of the case
 individual  or contact individual who is the subject of the information,
 where an emergency exists and the individual is  in  immediate  need  of
 medical attention and an attempt to secure consent would result in delay
 of  treatment  which would increase the risk to the individual's life or
 health;
   (b) facilitating a legally-authorized  public  health-related  action,
 where  and  only to the extent necessary to protect the public health in
 relation to [COVID-19] A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE; or
   (c) use or disclosure of contact tracing information to pursue a legal
 action in relation to a violation of this title; provided  that  disclo-
 sure  shall  be  subject  to in camera review and approval by the court,
 and, if the use is initiated by a party other than the  case  individual
 or contact individual who is the subject of the contact tracing informa-
 tion,  the  information  must  be  highly  material and relevant for the
 purpose.
   [12.] 11. "Covered entity" means a governmental entity or a  place  of
 public  accommodation,  resort  or  amusement, as defined in section two
 hundred ninety-two of the executive law.
   [13.] 12. "Derived from an immunity passport"  means  any  information
 contained  in  or  retrieved  from  an immunity passport, as well as any
 metadata associated with the use of the immunity passport, including the
 time and location the immunity passport was used, as well as any  infer-
 ences made based on the information contained in an immunity passport or
 an immunity passport's usage.
   [14.] 13. "Disclose" means the release, transfer, provision of, access
 to,  or  divulging in any other manner of information outside the entity
 holding the information.
   [15.] 14. "Governmental entity" means a department or  agency  of  the
 state or a political subdivision thereof, an individual acting for or on
 behalf  of  the  state or a political subdivision thereof, or any entity
 regulated under the social services law.
   [16.] 15. "Immunity passport" means  a  credential,  whether  digital,
 electronic,  or  physical,  that  identifies  an  individual  as  having
 received a COVID-19 vaccine or a COVID-19 test result.
   [17.] 16. "Immunity passport  provider"  means  a  legal  entity  that
 develops,  maintains,  distributes, or markets immunity passports in New
 York state.
   [18.] 17. "Personal information" means information  that  directly  or
 indirectly  identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being asso-
 ciated with, or could reasonably be linked to a particular individual or
 personal device. Information is reasonably linkable to an individual  or
 personal  device  if  it  can  be used on its own or in combination with
 other reasonably available information, regardless of whether such other
 information is held by the covered entity or immunity passport provider,
 to identify an individual or a personal device.
   [19.] 18. "Physical immunity passport" means a credential that identi-
 fies an individual as having received a COVID-19 vaccine or  a  COVID-19
 test  result that does not rely on a digital or electronic device. Phys-
 ical immunity passports include, but are not limited to, pieces of paper
 denoting immunity status.
   [20.] 19. "Use" means, with respect to personal information, the shar-
 ing, employment, application, utilization, examination, or  analysis  of
 such information within an entity that maintains such information.
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   §  3.  The  section  heading  and subdivision 5 of section 2181 of the
 public health law, as amended by chapter 62 of the  laws  of  2021,  are
 amended to read as follows:
   [COVID-19] COMMUNICABLE DISEASE contact tracing; confidentiality.
   5.  No  law enforcement agent or entity or immigration authority shall
 be a contact tracer or contact tracing entity or engage in contact trac-
 ing.  This subdivision does not bar an individual who is associated with
 a law enforcement entity or immigration authority from acting only as  a
 case individual or contact individual. This subdivision does not prevent
 a  law  enforcement  agent  or  entity from assisting in a permitted use
 under paragraph (b) of subdivision [eleven] TEN  of  section  twenty-one
 hundred eighty of this title.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.