Senate Bill S9592

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9592
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 26, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the workers'  compensation  law  and  the  environmental
   conservation  law,  in relation to approving notice and proof of disa-
   bility from an attending nurse practitioner
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 217 of the workers' compen-
 sation  law,  as  amended  by section 16 of part SS of chapter 54 of the
 laws of 2016, are amended to read as follows:
   1. Written notice and proof of disability or proof of need for  family
 leave shall be furnished to the employer by or on behalf of the employee
 claiming  benefits  or,  in  the  case  of  a claimant under section two
 hundred seven of this article, to the chair, within  thirty  days  after
 commencement  of  the  period  of  disability. Additional proof shall be
 furnished thereafter from time to time as the  employer  or  carrier  or
 chair  may  require  but  not more often than once each week. Such proof
 shall include a statement of  disability  by  the  employee's  attending
 physician  OR  ATTENDING  NURSE  PRACTITIONER or attending podiatrist or
 attending chiropractor or attending dentist or attending psychologist or
 attending certified nurse  midwife  or  family  leave  care  recipient's
 health  care  provider, or in the case of an employee who adheres to the
 faith or teachings of any church or denomination, and who in  accordance
 with  its  creed,  tenets  or principles depends for healing upon prayer
 through spiritual means alone in the practice of religion, by an accred-
 ited practitioner, containing facts and opinions as to  such  disability
 in  compliance  with regulations of the chair. Failure to furnish notice
 or proof within the time and in the  manner  above  provided  shall  not
 invalidate  the  claim  but no benefits shall be required to be paid for
 any period more than two weeks prior to the date on which  the  required
 proof  is  furnished unless it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the
 chair not to have been reasonably possible to  furnish  such  notice  or
 proof  and  that such notice or proof was furnished as soon as possible;
 provided, however, that no benefits shall be paid  unless  the  required
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD11453-02-5
 S. 9592                             2
 
 proof  of disability is furnished within the period of actual disability
 or family leave that  does  not  exceed  the  statutory  maximum  period
 permitted  under section two hundred four of this article. No limitation
 of  time  provided  in  this  section  shall run as against any disabled
 employee who is mentally incompetent, or physically incapable of provid-
 ing such notice as a result of a serious medical condition, or  a  minor
 so long as such person has no guardian of the person and/or property.
   2. An employee claiming disability benefits shall, as requested by the
 employer  or  carrier,  submit [himself or herself] THEMSELVES at inter-
 vals, but not more than once a week, for examination by a  physician  OR
 NURSE  PRACTITIONER or podiatrist or chiropractor or dentist or psychol-
 ogist or certified nurse midwife designated by the employer or  carrier.
 All such examinations shall be without cost to the employee and shall be
 held at a reasonable time and place.
   §  2.  Subdivisions  16 and 17 of section 11-0901 of the environmental
 conservation law, subdivision 16 as amended by section 13 of part EE  of
 chapter  55  of the laws of 2014, subdivision 17 as added by chapter 424
 of the laws of 1992, and such subdivisions as renumbered by chapter  762
 of the laws of 2023, are amended to read as follows:
   16.  Notwithstanding  any  inconsistent provision of this section, the
 department may adopt regulations to allow the  taking  of  big  game  or
 small  game  by  the use of a long bow equipped with a mechanical device
 for holding and releasing the bowstring, attached to the handle  section
 of an otherwise legal long bow, to any person with a physical disability
 who is physically incapable of drawing and holding a long bow because of
 a  physical  disability,  subject to such restrictions as the department
 may adopt by regulation. For the purpose of this subdivision,  a  person
 with  a  physical  disability  shall  mean any person who submits to the
 department a statement of a physician duly licensed to practice medicine
 OR OF A DULY CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER that such person is physically
 incapable of arm movement sufficient to draw, hold and  release  a  long
 bow  as  defined  in  subdivision  four  of this section or as otherwise
 defined in department regulation. The department is authorized to  adopt
 regulations  requiring  documentation  to establish that an applicant is
 eligible to use a mechanical device pursuant to this subdivision.
   17. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of  this  section,  the
 department  may  issue  to a physically disabled person a permit to take
 big game or small game by the use of a cross-bow equipped with an  appa-
 ratus  permitting  release  of  the  bowstring by means of such person's
 discharge of breath. For the purposes of this  subdivision,  "physically
 disabled  person"  shall mean any person who submits to the department a
 statement of a physician duly licensed  to  practice  medicine  in  this
 state,  OR  OF  A DULY CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER, that such person is
 permanently physically incapable of arm movement sufficient to release a
 pre-drawn bow authorized under subdivision fifteen of this section.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.