S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6801--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 10, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  RIVERA,  JACKSON,  WEIK -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Health
   --  recommitted  to  the  Committee on Rules in accordance with Senate
   Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee and committed
   to the Committee on  Rules  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,
   ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 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.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10600-05-4
              

 S. 6801--A                          2
 
   § 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] SUCH
 PUPIL has been so injured until proven otherwise. No  such  pupil  shall
 resume  athletic  activity  until [he or she] SUCH PUPIL 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  physi-
 cian  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 injuries, 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] SUCH
 STUDENT  has  been evaluated by and received written and signed authori-
 zation from a licensed physician  OR  A  CERTIFIED  NURSE  PRACTITIONER.
 Such authorization 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] SUCH CHIEF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR'S district. For the purpose
 of determining [his or her] SUCH DRIVER, MONITOR AND  ATTENDANT'S  phys-
 ical  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 transporta-
 tion facilities used by pupils and in determining  the  fitness  of  any
 monitor  or  attendant to carry out [his or her] SUCH MONITOR OR ATTEND-
 ANT'S functions on  such  transportation  facilities.  Nothing  in  this
 section  shall  prohibit a school district from imposing a more restric-
 S. 6801--A                          3
 
 tive 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 205 of the laws of 2024 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 four of section four hundred  four-a  of  this
 chapter,  upon  application  of  such  person or such person's parent or
 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  their  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 their discretion, may issue a temporary special  vehicle  identifica-
 tion 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  PRACTI-
 TIONER  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  identification  parking
 permits,  or who is not a resident of the United States and is temporar-
 ily 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
 S. 6801--A                          4
 
 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
 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] SUCH DRIVER 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 PRACTI-
 TIONER.  However, in a case of grave emergency where the hazard to occu-
 pants  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]  SUCH  COMMISSIONER'S
 discretion,  on  the  application  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 application a note from a physician OR NURSE  PRAC-
 TITIONER  indicating  that  the  prospective juror is breastfeeding, the
 commissioner shall excuse the prospective juror or postpone the time  of
 S. 6801--A                          5
 
 jury  service. The application shall be presented to the commissioner at
 such time and in such manner as [he  or  she]  SUCH  COMMISSIONER  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 on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law.