S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8296
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 30, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. MARTINEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the county law, in relation to eye and tissue donation
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 671 of the county
law, as amended by chapter 322 of the laws of 2021, is amended and a new
paragraph (c) is added to read as follows:
(b) shall make inquiry into all deaths whether natural or unnatural in
[his or her] THEIR county occurring to an incarcerated individual of a
correctional facility as defined by subdivision three of section forty
of the correction law, whether or not the death occurred inside such
facility[.];
(C) SHALL DEVELOP A REFERRAL PROTOCOL TO PROMPTLY IDENTIFY DONORS OF
ANATOMICAL GIFTS FOR DEATHS THAT FALL UNDER THEIR JURISDICTION AND OCCUR
OUTSIDE OF A HOSPITAL. THIS PROTOCOL SHALL INCLUDE, BUT SHALL NOT BE
LIMITED TO, REQUIRING A CALL AND/OR TEXT BE PROMPTLY PLACED TO A DESIG-
NATED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE APPROPRIATE EYE AND TISSUE BANK, AS THOSE
TERMS ARE DEFINED IN SECTION FORTY-THREE HUNDRED OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH
LAW, TO ENABLE SUCH PROCUREMENT ORGANIZATIONS TO VERIFY DONOR REGISTRY
AND MAKE A DONOR SUITABILITY DETERMINATION.
§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 674-a of the county law, as added by
chapter 899 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, UPON NOTICE
TO THE APPROPRIATE PROCUREMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
REFERRAL PROTOCOL ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO THIS ARTICLE, if IT IS DETER-
MINED THAT the decedent who is under the jurisdiction of the coroner or
medical examiner as defined in this chapter is a donor of all or part of
[his] THEIR body as defined in the public health law including properly
executed consent, such body or part thereof [being] IS medically suit-
able for transplant, and the donation [having] HAS been executed pursu-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10273-03-5
S. 8296 2
ant to the provisions of the public health law, the coroner, the
coroner's physician or the medical examiner who has notice of such
donation shall only perform an autopsy and/or analysis of EYES, tissues
or organs in a manner and within a time period compatible with the pres-
ervation for the purposes of transplantation of said donation.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.