What's happening
This bill allows restricted clinical laboratory licenses in New York to include toxicology for certain qualified individuals.
Why it matters
Expands professional opportunities. By allowing toxicology to be added as a specialty under restricted clinical laboratory licenses, the bill creates new career pathways specifically for individuals working in state-authorized toxicology labs under the supervision of a clinical laboratory director.
Tightens oversight and standards. Certification in toxicology will only be available to those employed in New York State Department of Health-authorized toxicology laboratories, ensuring stricter controls over who is permitted to perform toxicology testing.
Addresses workforce needs in toxicology. The amendment responds to increasing demand for toxicology expertise, potentially improving the capacity of labs to process tests related to drug screening, poisoning, and public health investigations.
Maintains rigorous qualifications. Eligible individuals must meet existing education, training, and character requirements, which helps uphold quality and safety standards in sensitive toxicology testing environments.
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Who cares
Employees of state-authorized toxicology laboratories
The bill would let them seek restricted clinical laboratory licenses with toxicology certification, subject to education, training and other licensing requirements.
Toxicology laboratories authorized by the New York State Department of Health
The bill would limit eligibility for toxicology certification to individuals employed in these laboratories and operating under a clinical laboratory director.
Clinical laboratory directors
They would oversee the work of toxicology certificate applicants and be responsible for attesting to training programs and certifying successful completion.
New York State Education Department
It would administer the expanded restricted-license pathway and prepare regulations and other actions needed to implement it.
Headline styles
Limit Toxicology Lab Licenses
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Signed chap.227
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.556
- Substituted for A7906A
- Referred to higher education
- Returned to assembly
- Repassed senate
- Amended on third reading (t) 5692a
- Vote reconsidered - restored to third reading
- Returned to senate
Show 8 earlier actions
- Recalled from assembly
- Referred to higher education
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 58–0
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.833
- Referred to higher education
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.
Limit Toxicology Lab Licenses
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Richard Gottfried
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5692--A Cal. No. 833
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 13, 2019
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education -reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, 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 education law, in relation to restricted clinical laboratory licenses in toxicology
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 8610 of the education law, as added by chapter 204 of the laws of 2008, paragraph (b) as amended by chapter 276 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
1. Restricted clinical laboratory license.
(a) The department may issue a restricted license pursuant to which the restricted licensee may receive a certificate to perform certain examinations and procedures within the definition of clinical laboratory technology set forth in subdivision one of section eighty-six hundred one of this article, provided that such a restricted licensee may perform examinations and procedures only in those of the following areas which are specifically listed in his or her certificate: histocompatibility, cytogenetics, stem cell process, flow cytometry/cellular immunology and molecular diagnosis to the extent such molecular diagnosis is included in genetic testing-molecular and molecular oncology, and toxicology (under paragraph (b-1) of this subdivision).
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subdivision, restricted licensees employed at National Cancer Institute designated cancer centers or at teaching hospitals that are eligible for distributions pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision three of section twenty-eight hundred seven-m of the public health law may receive a certificate that
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11636-02-9
S. 5692--A 2
also includes the practice of molecular diagnosis including but not limited to genetic testing-molecular and molecular oncology, and restricted licensees employed at national cancer institute designated cancer centers may receive a certificate that includes the use of mass spectrometry or any tests and procedures acceptable to the commissioner of health, in consultation with the commissioner, in the field of proteomics, provided that such certificate holders may practice in such additional areas only at such centers, teaching hospitals or other sites as may be designated by the commissioner.
(b-1) Only individuals employed in a New York state department of health authorized toxicology laboratory, operating under the direction of a clinical laboratory director, may obtain a certificate in toxicology.
(c) To qualify for a restricted license, an applicant shall:
(i) file an application with the department;
(ii) have received an education, including a bachelor's degree in the biological, chemical, or physical sciences or in mathematics from a program registered by the department or determined by the department to be the substantial equivalent;
(iii) have completed a training program with a planned sequence of supervised employment or engagement in activities appropriate for the area of certification, which training program is satisfactory to the department in quality, breadth, scope and nature and is provided by an entity that shall be responsible for the services provided. The training program shall be described and attested to by the clinical director of the laboratory in which it is located prior to the beginning of the program. The duration of the training program shall be one year of fulltime training in the specific areas in which the applicant is seeking certification or the part-time equivalent thereof, as determined by the department, and the successful completion of such program shall be certified by a laboratory director who is responsible for overseeing such program;
(iv) be at least eighteen years of age;
(v) be of good moral character as determined by the department; and
(vi) pay a fee of one hundred seventy-five dollars for an initial restricted license and a fee of one hundred seventy dollars for each triennial registration period.
(d) Each restricted licensee shall register with the department as required of licensees pursuant to section sixty-five hundred two of this title and shall be subject to the disciplinary provisions applicable to licensees pursuant to subarticle three of article one hundred thirty of this title.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the commissioner of education shall make regulations and take other actions reasonably necessary to implement this act on that date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to restricted clinical laboratory licenses in toxicology
Purpose or general idea of bill
To allow individuals employed by a New York State Department of Health certified laboratory who meet the requirements for a restricted license to receive a certification allowing them to perform toxicology laborato- ry services.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends section 8610 of the education law, by allowing employees of a department of health authorized toxicology labo- ratory, operating under the supervision of a laboratory supervisor or director of a clinical' laboratory, to obtain a certificate in toxicolo- gy.
Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
Justification
New York State based clinical toxicology laboratories that process spec- imens are required to employ individuals holding valid licenses in clin- ical laboratory technology (CLT) to complete these tasks. Pursuant to the Education Law and State Department of Education regulations, in order to obtain a clinical laboratory technology license, an individual must complete a two year or four-year degree in either clinical labora- tory technology or cytotechnology and then successfully complete of a comprehensive qualifying exam.
Individuals graduating with bachelors or graduate degrees in toxicology instead - the profession in which toxicology labs are solely focused are ineligible for CLT licenses issued by SED, and therefore cannot be employed in toxicology labs. These toxicologists, despite their exten- sive educational training and expertise, are barred from working in NYS toxicology laboratories due to a lack of licensure pathway.
Meanwhile, CLTs graduating from clinical laboratory programs have mini- mal exposure to toxicology before being hired in a toxicology lab. Toxicology labs rely on chemistry skills, while the thrust of the CLT program is biology based. This has resulted in a mismatched skill set between those individuals are able to obtain licensure from SED and those who have the background needed to succeed in a toxicology lab.
Toxicology lab volume is at an historic high,,the services of which have become a useful tool in combating the opioid addiction epidemic. Lab results can indicate an individual's adherence to established protocols and important behavioral health outcomes.
New York currently has a dozen or fewer toxicology labs and has experi- enced recent losses of labs that previously provided toxicology services. Those labs that continue to operate have great difficulty in filling available staffing opportunities, because individuals who are licensed are seeking employment in non-toxicology labs, and those who do have the skill set are currently barred from being licensed by SED. As a result, lab tests are sent out of state where they are performed by individuals over whom New York State has no authority, in a process that delays reception of results.
Without creating a pathway to licensure for individuals who are quali- fied to perform the necessary toxicology lab tasks by establishing a new restricted license, New York will be further constrained in accessing in-state toxicology lab services.
Prior legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
120 days
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.