What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 57
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Signed chap.378
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.523
- Substituted for A10020A
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 61–0
- Ordered to third reading cal.1739
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Print number 7307a
Show 2 earlier actions
- Amend and recommit to health
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Eliminates restrictions on the removal of human remains from the county in which the death occurred; repealer
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Angelo Santabarbara
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to burial and removal permits; and to repeal subdivision 7 of section 4144 of such law relating thereto
Purpose
This bill would allow a licensed funeral director to remove the body of a deceased person from a county non-adjacent to the county in which the funeral firm is located to any county within New York State, in the same manner as has long been allowed for deaths in adjacent counties. In light of New York's recently launched electronic death registration system, this bill also eliminates the obligation imposed upon registrars of vital statistics, or the Commissioner of the Department of Health, or a person authorized by the Commissioner, to, in certain circumstances, provide verbal permission to a licensed funeral director for the removal of a body of a deceased person in lieu of providing a removal permit. The provisions governing verbal permission set forth in Section 4144 are obsolete.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 4144 of the public health law
Read the full memo (645 words)
Section 2 repeals subdivision 7 of section 4144 of the public health law
Section 3 sets for the effective date.
Justification
New York State law requires a funeral director to first obtain a burial/transit permit after obtaining a signed death certificate no matter the late hour of the night or on weekends and holidays, or prior verbal permission, simply to remove a body from a hospital or nursing home that is located in what is termed a "non-adjacent" county.
As currently drafted, Section 4144 of the NYS Public Health Law is antiquated and outmoded. First, in our increasingly mobile society, the routine need for some individuals to receive the requisite level of specialized or end-of-life care at facilities in more metropolitan areas has made common instances when a person passes away in a county that is not adjacent to where their family and/or their funeral director of choice are located. This societal sea change is not at all reflected in the current 50-year-old law governing removal of bodies, a law which serves as an outmoded impediment to a funeral director wishing simply to act at the direction of the family to safely and efficiently retrieve their loved one's body.
The necessity to obtain a prior permit or receive prior permission delays this critical process, creating unnecessary emotional upset for the family. Second, verbal permission from a registrar of vital statistics, or the Commissioner or a person authorized by the Commissioner, to remove a body is no longer needed; the State's EDRS negates the need to communicate by telephone and allows permits to be obtained electronically anywhere internet access is available. Third, and perhaps most notably, the elimination of this impediment will, in facilitating the removal of the deceased from a place of death, work to uphold and respect the requirement of some religions that the body of a deceased individual must be buried no later than 24 hours after the time of his or her death. This legislation simply seeks to extend the area to which a body may be removed to non-adjacent counties within New York State without first obtaining a permit, and to simultaneously modernize Section 4144 of the Public Health Law. The requirement to obtain a transit permit remains unchanged.
In addition, this bill in no way alters the current legal obligation of a funeral director to notify the coroner or medical examiner of any death occurring from other than natural causes, or to return the body to the registration district in the county where the death occurred whenever the coroner, medical examiner, or district attorney requests the return of the body for investigation or post-mortem examination.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
Undetermined
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.