§ 502. Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of
approval. 1. For the purposes of this section, "environmental
laboratory" is any facility that examines or is available for the
examination of samples or specimens including, but not limited to: air,
stack emissions, water, wastewater, surface water, ground water,
recreational waters, swimming pools, leachate, land runoff, solid waste,
hazardous waste, soil, sediments and vegetation, as well as any
substance that could contribute to the pollution of or that could be
contaminated by material contained in such samples or specimens. Such
examinations shall be limited to the qualitative or quantitative
determinations of the biological, chemical, radiochemical or physical
characteristics of such samples or specimens for the purposes of public
or personal health protection or the protection of the environment or
natural resources. Environmental laboratories shall not include
non-laboratory chemical testing associated with residential water
softeners and residential swimming pools.

2. No environmental laboratory may perform any examination on samples
collected in the state of New York for which the commissioner issues a
certificate of approval for such examination unless the laboratory has
been issued such certificate of approval. Such laboratory examinations
shall conform to any conditions under which the approval is granted.

3. The commissioner may issue to laboratories certificates of approval
covering laboratory examinations, including but not limited to, specific
procedures or specialities within such categories as wastewaters,
potable waters, sediments, solid wastes, and air, and may prescribe the
conditions under which such approvals will be granted. Notwithstanding
any other conditions which he may prescribe, such an approval shall not
be issued hereafter to a laboratory, not heretofore approved, unless the
director or other person in charge of such examinations shall possess
such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner shall
prescribe.

4. No state agency, authority, county, city, including the city of New
York, town, village, water district, sewer district or other political
subdivision of the state shall contract with any laboratory for
laboratory examinations for which the commissioner issues certificates
of approval pursuant to subdivision three of this section, unless such
laboratory has been issued such certificate.

5. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the
commissioner shall charge adequate and reasonable fees for the periodic
inspection of out-of-state laboratories.

6. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, the
commissioner shall charge laboratories fees to recover the cost to the
department of operating this program. The commissioner may waive all or
any part of such fee charges for laboratories operated by the state.
Fees shall include the following:

(a) a basic amount of five hundred dollars to be charged to each
laboratory;

(b) the balance of the program cost from:

(1) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional
to total adjusted volume of analytes performed by the laboratory in the
preceding year as defined in regulations of the department, the total
amount collected from which shall equal fifty percent of the balance of
the program costs;

(2) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional
to the number of analytes for which such laboratory maintains its
certification.

Subparagraph one of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply
to government laboratories.

7. For those categories, procedures or specialities as specified in
subdivision three for which the commissioner has issued certificates of
approval, the commissioner shall within thirty days of receipt of an
application for a certificate from a laboratory existing on or before
April first, nineteen hundred ninety-three, which is initially required
to obtain certification, review such application and issue an interim
certificate of approval in the particular category, procedure or
speciality to all laboratories which provide adequate documentation in
their application that they are capable of performing quality work in
the category, procedure or speciality under review. An interim
certificate of approval in specified categories will remain valid until
such time as the commissioner shall reach a determination on the
application.

8. The commissioner may adopt and amend rules and regulations to
effectuate the provisions and purposes of this title.

9. A person who intentionally violates or refuses or omits to comply
with subdivision two of this section, or any regulation adopted pursuant
thereto, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction, by
imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than
one thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment. A second or
subsequent conviction shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more
than one year or a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred
dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.

10. The department may require an environmental laboratory to report
laboratory test results to the department, or to any other health
department in an electronic manner prescribed by the department.