What's happening
This bill requires New York locomotive engineers to be screened for sleep apnea and mandates treatment compliance for continued employment.
Why it matters
Increases public safety by directly addressing the risk of fatigue-related accidents. sleep apnea can cause excessive daytime sleepiness, which has contributed to past train crashes; this bill aims to reduce such dangers by ensuring engineers are diagnosed and treated.
Places new responsibilities on railroad employers. to ensure not only that engineers are screened but also that those diagnosed with sleep apnea provide documented proof of treatment compliance as a condition of continued employment.
May impact workforce management and labor relations. by introducing potential medical disqualification for engineers who refuse treatment or cannot demonstrate compliance, possibly affecting staffing and union negotiations.
Aligns New York with broader transportation safety trends. similar screening requirements have been implemented or considered in other transportation sectors, signaling a shift toward proactive management of operator health to prevent catastrophic incidents.
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
Locomotive engineers operating intrastate trains
They would need sleep apnea screening as part of their current training and, if they test positive, documentation of treatment compliance to qualify for employment.
Railroad employers
They would have to require engineers who test positive for sleep apnea to obtain documentation of treatment compliance as an employment qualification.
Physicians, certified nurse practitioners and registered physician assistants
They could perform the required screenings within the bill’s authorization limits, but could not screen engineers who are their own patients.
Headline styles
Test Train Engineers for Sleep Apnea
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to transportation
- Referred to transportation
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.
Test Train Engineers’ Sleep
In Senate Committee · Transportation · Sponsor David Carlucci
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6584
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 12, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. GALEF -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the railroad law, in relation to sleep apnea testing for locomotive engineers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The railroad law is amended by adding a new section 97-b to read as follows:
§ 97-b. Medical examinations. 1. To operate an intrastate locomotive in the state of New York, locomotive engineers shall be required as part of their current training to be screened for sleep apnea, as defined in subdivision nine of section two hundred sixty-two of the public health law, by a physician, a certified nurse practitioner to the extent authorized by law and consistent with subdivision three of section sixty-nine hundred two of the education law, or a registered physician assistant who is not the personal physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant of the locomotive engineer.
2. Locomotive engineers who test positive for sleep apnea shall be required by their employer to attain documentation of compliance with treatment for sleep apnea as qualification to be employed as a locomotive engineer.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05338-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.