NY State Senate Bill 2025-S7562

Senate Bill S7562

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring prescription drug containers be labeled with a description of the size, shape, color and imprint of the prescription drug it contains

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 22, 2025	referred to higher education

2025-S7562 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A2640
Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §6810, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: A5377
2023-2024: S8694, A84

2025-S7562 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires prescription drug containers be labeled with a description of the size, shape, color and imprint of the prescription drug it contains.

2025-S7562 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7562

SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring prescription
drug containers be labeled with a description of the size, shape, color
and imprint of the prescription drug it contains

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Relates to requiring prescription drug containers be labeled with a
description of the size, shape, color and imprint of the prescription
drug it contains

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 1 of section 6810 of the Education Law, as
amended by section 2 of part V of chapter 57 of the laws of 2012, estab-
lishing how prescription drug containers are required to be labeled.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):

N/A

 
JUSTIFICATION:

According to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care,
a peer-reviewed medical journal, over half (51%) of all patient respond-
ents taking drugs for chronic conditions including depression, diabetes,
epilepsy, HIV, and hyperlipidemia, or hypertension reported having expe-
rienced changes in the appearance of their generic drugs.  Of these
respondents who recognized a change, fewer than half reported having
been notified of these changes, and approximately 12% reported stopping
their medication or using it less frequently as a result of the change.

This legislation would require pharmacies to inform patients of any
potential changes in their prescription drugs by requiring them to affix
a label describing the size, shape, color and imprint of the
prescription drug it contains in an effort to minimize medication nonad-
herence and accidental overdoses or ingestion, both of which can lead to
poor patient outcomes that cost billions of dollars in healthcare spend-
ing nationwide annually on hospitalizations and other costs associated
with disease progression.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2021-22: A5377-Referred to Higher Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2025-S7562 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7562
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 22, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring prescription
   drug containers be labeled with a  description  of  the  size,  shape,
   color and imprint of the prescription drug it contains

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 6810  of  the  education  law,  as
 amended  by  section  2  of part V of chapter 57 of the laws of 2012, is
 amended to read as follows:
   1. No drug for which a prescription is required by the  provisions  of
 the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or by the commissioner of health
 shall   be  distributed  or  dispensed  to  any  person  except  upon  a
 prescription written by  a  person  legally  authorized  to  issue  such
 prescription.  Such  drug shall be compounded or dispensed by a licensed
 pharmacist, and no such drug shall be dispensed without affixing to  the
 immediate container in which the drug is sold or dispensed a label bear-
 ing  the  name and address of the owner of the establishment in which it
 was dispensed, the date compounded, the number of the prescription under
 which it is recorded in the pharmacist's prescription files, the name of
 the prescriber,  the  name  and  address  of  the  patient,  A  PHYSICAL
 DESCRIPTION  OF THE DRUG INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE SIZE, SHAPE,
 COLOR, AND IMPRINT OF THE DRUG, and the directions for the  use  of  the
 drug  by  the  patient  as given upon the prescription. All labels shall
 conform to such rules and regulations as promulgated by the commissioner
 pursuant to section sixty-eight hundred twenty-nine of this article. The
 prescribing and dispensing of a drug which  is  a  controlled  substance
 shall  be subject to additional requirements provided in article thirty-
 three of the public health  law.  The  words  "drug"  and  "prescription
 required drug" within the meaning of this article shall not be construed
 to  include soft or hard contact lenses, eyeglasses, or any other device
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02714-01-5

 S. 7562                             2
 
 for the aid or correction of vision. Nothing in this  subdivision  shall
 prevent a pharmacy from furnishing a drug to another pharmacy which does
 not have such drug in stock for the purpose of filling a prescription.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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