What's happening
This bill updates New York's anatomical gift (organ donation) laws to align with the 2006 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, improving consent, definitions, and revocation procedures.
Why it matters
Expands and clarifies key definitions. including “anatomical gift,” “document of gift,” “domestic partner,” and “reasonably available”—which can reduce confusion and disputes among families and medical professionals when making organ donation decisions.
Strengthens the legal authority of donor consent. ensuring that an individual's documented wish to donate organs cannot be overridden by family members (except in limited cases for minors), which upholds personal autonomy and is likely to increase the number of successful donations.
Streamlines the process for revoking or amending a donation. setting clear, modernized procedures for how donors or authorized family members can change or withdraw consent, which helps protect both donor intent and family rights.
Specifies the priority and process for family decision-making. more precisely ranking relatives and outlining how disagreements among family members are to be resolved, which minimizes delays and conflicts at critical times, potentially resulting in more timely organ recoveries.
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Who cares
- Likely concerns
Organ procurement organizations, eye banks and tissue banks
The bill would change whose consent they may rely on and establish rules for handling objections, amendments and revocations.
Organ and tissue donors
The bill would expressly allow donors to limit gifts to specified purposes or refuse donation, while barring others from amending an adult donor’s properly documented gift absent the donor’s revocation.
Donors’ families
The bill would add adult grandchildren and grandparents to the consent priority list and establish voting rules for certain family groups when relatives disagree about donation or revocation.
New York State Department of Health
The bill would direct the health commissioner to issue regulations and take other actions needed to implement the consent and revocation changes.
Headline styles
Update Organ Donation Law
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Recommit, enacting clause stricken
- Referred to health
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to codes
- Returned to assembly
- Repassed senate
- Amended on third reading 1342b
- Vote reconsidered - restored to third reading
- Returned to senate
- Recalled from assembly
- Referred to health
Show 7 earlier actions
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 61–1
- Ordered to third reading cal.1123
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Print number 1342a
- Amend and recommit to health
- Referred to health
Full text
8 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1342--B Cal. No. 1123
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 14, 2019
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged and said bill committed to the Committee on Rules -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to a third reading, passed by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote reconsidered, restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to definitions and conforming changes pertaining to anatomical gifts; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto (Part A); to amend the public health law, in relation to changes in anatomical gift consent (Part B); and to amend the public health law, in relation to changes in anatomical gift revocation and amendment (Part C)
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Legislative intent. The purpose of this legislation is to enact changes to follow the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) as updated in 2006 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to enhance the organ donation process. Most states have adopted these changes. While New York has made recent improvements to our organ donation rules and participation rates, we are still way behind most states and, as a result, still face a severe organ shortage. It is estimated that bringing New York's anatomical gift consent rules into agreement with UAGA would produce an additional 100 donors - for a total of 200-300 additional organs available - over five years.
§ 2. This act enacts into law changes to the anatomical gift process. Each component is wholly contained within a Part identified as Parts A through C. The effective date for each particular provision contained within such Part is set forth in the last section of such Part. Any
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03867-10-9
S. 1342--B 2
provision in any section contained within a Part, including the effective date of the Part, which makes a reference to a section "of this act," when used in connection with that particular component, shall be deemed to mean and refer to the corresponding section of the Part in which it is found. Section four of this act sets forth the general effective date of this act.
PART A
Definitions and conforming changes
Section 1. Section 4300 of the public health law, as added by chapter 466 of the laws of 1970, is amended to read as follows:
§ 4300. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Bank or storage facility" or "bank" means a hospital, laboratory or other facility licensed or approved under the laws of any state for storage of human bodies or parts thereof, for use in medical education, research, therapy, or transplantation [to individuals].
2. "Decedent" means a deceased individual of any age whose body or part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift and includes a stillborn infant or fetus.
3. "Donor" means an individual [who makes a gift of all or part of his] whose body or part is the subject of an anatomical gift.
4. "Hospital" means a hospital licensed, accredited, or approved under the laws of any state and includes a hospital operated by the United States Government, a state, or a subdivision thereof, although not required to be licensed under state laws.
5. "Part" of a body includes organs, tissues, eyes, bones, arteries, blood, other fluids [and] or other portions of a human body, and "part" includes "parts".
6. "Person" means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity.
7. "Physician" or "surgeon" means a physician or surgeon licensed or authorized to practice under the laws of any state.
8. "State" includes any state, district, commonwealth, territory, insular possession, and any other area subject to the legislative authority of the United States of America.
9. "Reasonably available" means able to be contacted by a procurement organization without undue effort and willing and able to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for the making of an anatomical gift.
10. "Domestic partner" means a person who, with respect to another person:
(a) is formally a party in a domestic partnership or similar relationship with the other person, entered into pursuant to the laws of the United States or any state, local or foreign jurisdiction, or registered as the domestic partner of the person with any registry maintained by the employer of either party or any state, municipality, or foreign jurisdiction; or
(b) is formally recognized as a beneficiary or covered person under the other person's employment benefits or health insurance; or
(c) is dependent or mutually interdependent on the other person for support, as evidenced by the totality of the circumstances indicating a mutual intent to be domestic partners including but not limited to: common ownership or joint leasing of real or personal property; common
S. 1342--B 3
householding, shared income or shared expenses; children in common; signs of intent to marry or become domestic partners under paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision; or the length of the personal relationship of the persons. Each party to a domestic partnership shall be considered to be the domestic partner of the other party. "Domestic partner" shall not include a person who is related to the other person by blood in a manner that would bar marriage to the other person in New York state. "Domestic partner" shall also not include any person who is less than eighteen years of age or who is the adopted child of the other person or who is related by blood in a manner that would bar marriage in New York state to a person who is the lawful spouse of the other person.
11. "Anatomical gift" or "gift" means a donation of all or part of a human body to take effect after the donor's death for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
12. "Document of gift" means an organ donor card, driver's license authorization to make an anatomical gift, pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section five hundred four of the vehicle and traffic law, authorization to make an anatomical gift pursuant to any of the methods in subdivision five of section forty-three hundred ten of this article, or any other written authorization for organ or tissue donation. The term includes a statement or symbol on a driver's license, identification card, or enrollment in a donor registry.
13. "Donee" means an individual or entity authorized to accept an anatomical gift pursuant to forty-three hundred two of this article.
14. "Guardian" means a person appointed by a court to make decisions regarding the support, care, education, health, or welfare of an individual. The term does not include a guardian ad litem.
15. "Organ procurement organization" means a person designated by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an organ procurement organization.
16. "Parent" means a parent whose parental rights have not been terminated.
17. "Disinterested witness" means a witness other than the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, domestic partner, or guardian of the individual who makes, amends, revokes, or refuses to make an anatomical gift, or another adult who exhibited special care and concern for the individual.
18. "Close friend" means any person, eighteen years of age or older, who is a close friend of the patient, or a relative of the patient other than a spouse, adult child, parent, brother, or sister, who has maintained regular contact with the patient as to be familiar with the patient's activities, health, and religious or moral beliefs.
19. "Refusal" means a record created under section forty-three hundred five of this article that expressly states an intent to bar other persons from making an anatomical gift.
20. "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
21. "Procurement organization" means an eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank.
22. "Eye bank" means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to engage in the recovery, screening, testing, processing, storage, or distribution of human eyes or portions of human eyes.
23. "Tissue bank" means a person that is licensed, accredited, or regulated under federal or state law to solicit, retrieve, perform donor
S. 1342--B 4
selection and/or testing, preserve, transport, allocate, distribute, acquire, process, store or arrange for the storage of human tissues for transplantation, transfer, therapy, artificial insemination or implantation, including autogeneic procedures.
§ 2. Subdivision 5 of section 4303 of the public health law is REPEALED.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
PART B
Changes in anatomical gift consent
Section 1. Section 4301 of the public health law, as amended by chapter 348 of the laws of 2009, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 248 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
§ 4301. Persons who may execute an anatomical gift. 1. (a) Any individual of sound mind and eighteen years of age or more may [give all or any part of his or her body] make an anatomical gift to take effect upon their death for any purpose specified in section forty-three hundred two of this article, [the gift to take effect upon death] limit an anatomical gift to one or more of those purposes, or refuse to make an anatomical gift. In any case where the donor has a properly executed [an organ donor card, driver's license authorization to make an anatomical gift, pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section five hundred four of the vehicle and traffic law, registered in the New York state organ and tissue donor registry under section forty-three hundred ten of this article, or has otherwise given written authorization for organ or tissue donation,] document of gift, authorization for donation shall not be rescinded [by an objection by a member of any of the classes specified in paragraphs (a) through (h) of subdivision two of this section,] or amended by any other person except upon a showing that the donor revoked the authorization pursuant to section forty-three hundred five of this article.
(b) Any person who is sixteen or seventeen years of age and of sound mind may [give all or any part of his or her body] make an anatomical gift to take effect upon their death for any purpose specified in section forty-three hundred two of this article, [the gift to take effect upon death] limit an anatomical gift to one or more of those purposes, or refuse to make an anatomical gift. In any case where the donor has a properly executed [an organ donor card, driver's license authorization to make an anatomical gift, pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section five hundred four of the vehicle and traffic law, or has otherwise given written authorization for organ or tissue donation] document of gift, notice of such gift shall be provided to the donor's parents or [legal] guardians, and authorization for donation may be rescinded or amended by an objection by a parent or [legal] guardian of the donor at the time of death and prior to the recovery of any organ or tissue if the donor is less than eighteen years of age. An anatomical gift made by an individual more than sixteen years of age but less than eighteen shall otherwise not be rescinded, except upon a showing that the donor revoked the authorization pursuant to section forty-three hundred five of this article. Upon the donor reaching the age of eighteen, the donor's consent to donate his or her organs or tissue shall be regarded as consent for authorization to make an anatomical gift pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
(c) In the absence of an express, contrary indication by the donor, an anatomical gift of a part is neither a refusal to give other parts nor a
S. 1342--B 5
limitation on an individual's ability to make an anatomical gift under subdivision two of section forty-three hundred one of this article.
2. [Any of the following persons, in the order of priority stated, may, when persons in prior classes are not reasonably available, willing, and able to act, at the time of death, and in the absence of actual notice of contrary indications by the decedent, or actual notice of opposition by a member of the same class or prior class specified in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) of this subdivision, or reason to believe that] (a) In the absence of a gift made by the donor under subdivision one of this section, and in the absence of actual notice of contrary indications by the decedent, including religious or moral objections, an anatomical gift [is contrary to the decedent's religious or moral beliefs, give all or any part] of the decedent's body may be made by any member of the following classes of persons who is reasonably available, in the order of priority listed, for any purpose specified in section forty-three hundred two of this article:
[(a)] (i) the person designated as the decedent's health care agent under article twenty-nine-C of this chapter, subject to any written statement in the health care proxy form,
[(b)] (ii) the person designated as the decedent's agent in a written instrument under article forty-two of this chapter, subject to any written statement in the written instrument,
[(c)] (iii) the spouse, if not legally separated from the patient, or the domestic partner,
[(d)] (iv) a son or daughter eighteen years of age or older,
[(e)] (v) either parent,
[(f)] (vi) a brother or sister eighteen years of age or older,
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to definitions and conforming changes pertaining to anatomical gifts; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto (Part A); to amend the public health law, in relation to changes in anatomical gift consent (Part B); and to amend the public health law, in relation to changes in anatomical gift revocation and amendment (Part C)
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this bill is to bring New York's definitions and consent rules governing anatomical gifts into line with the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Legislative intent Section
Read the full memo (628 words)
2. Explanation of Parts structure Part A -
Section 1. Amends section 4300 of the public health law to conform defi- nitions of terms to definitions in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
Section 2. Repeals subdivision 5 of section 4303 of the public health law as this subdivision is placed into section 4301 instead.
Section 3. Effective date. Part B -
Section 1. Amends Public Health Law § 4301 to provide that if there is a group of family members in a category that is authorized to make a deci- sion about an anatomical gift by a deceased relative, the group's deci- sion is by the majority (a tie would not be sufficient to make the gift); and conforms with definitions as amended in Part A section 1.
Section 2. Effective date. Part C -
Section 1. Amends Public Health Law § 4305 to enact the same provision as in Part B, Section 1, for a decision to alter an anatomical gift (a tie would not be sufficient to amend) and for revocation of an anatom- ical gift (a tie being sufficient to revoke); and conforms with defi- nitions as amended in Part A section 1.
Section 2. Effective date.
Section 3. Severability.
Section 4. Effective date.
Justification
The purpose of this legislation is to enact changes to follow the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) as proposed by the National Confer- ence of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
The UAGA was enacted in 1968 following the first successful heart trans- plant and was revised in 1987 and 2006 to clarify consent rules and
other processes. Most states have enacted the recent changes, but New York has not.
In particular, only New York and Pennsylvania have consent rules under which any one of a group of family members can block an anatomical gift, rather than using a majority rule process. For example under current New York law, if a parent of five children dies, and the deceased's wishes are not known, and four of the five children wish to make an anatomical gift, the one lone objector can block it.
This bill would instead implement a majority rule among the individuals in whichever class has priority to make the decision (e.g., among the decedent's children, grandchildren, siblings), in compliance with the UAGA. In the event of a tie, the gift cannot be made.
The bill also provides that amendment of an anatomical gift will be subject to majority rule (a tie not being sufficient to amend) or revo- cation of an anatomical gift with a majority rule a (tie being suffi- cient to revoke).
While New York has made recent improvements to our organ donation rules and participation rates, we still face a severe organ shortage. It is estimated that bringing New York's anatomical gift consent rules into agreement with UAGA would produce an additional 100 donors - for a total of 200-300 additional organs available - over five years.
Prior legislative history
2018: A10959 - Referred to Health / referred to Senate Rules
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
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