Provides for restricted clinical laboratory licenses for individuals employed in a department of health authorized toxicology laboratory, operating under the direction of a clinical laboratory director.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7906A
SPONSOR: Gottfried
 
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
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7906--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 28, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
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 Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 8610 of the education law, as
2 added by chapter 204 of the laws of 2008, paragraph (b) as amended by
3 chapter 276 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
4 1. Restricted clinical laboratory license.
5 (a) The department may issue a restricted license pursuant to which
6 the restricted licensee may receive a certificate to perform certain
7 examinations and procedures within the definition of clinical laboratory
8 technology set forth in subdivision one of section eighty-six hundred
9 one of this article, provided that such a restricted licensee may
10 perform examinations and procedures only in those of the following areas
11 which are specifically listed in his or her certificate: histocompati-
12 bility, cytogenetics, stem cell process, flow cytometry/cellular immu-
13 nology and molecular diagnosis to the extent such molecular diagnosis is
14 included in genetic testing-molecular and molecular oncology, and toxi-
15 cology (under paragraph (b-1) of this subdivision).
16 (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subdivision, restricted
17 licensees employed at National Cancer Institute designated cancer
18 centers or at teaching hospitals that are eligible for distributions
19 pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision three of section twenty-eight
20 hundred seven-m of the public health law may receive a certificate that
21 also includes the practice of molecular diagnosis including but not
22 limited to genetic testing-molecular and molecular oncology, and
23 restricted licensees employed at national cancer institute designated
24 cancer centers may receive a certificate that includes the use of mass
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11799-02-9
A. 7906--A 2
1 spectrometry or any tests and procedures acceptable to the commissioner
2 of health, in consultation with the commissioner, in the field of
3 proteomics, provided that such certificate holders may practice in such
4 additional areas only at such centers, teaching hospitals or other sites
5 as may be designated by the commissioner.
6 (b-1) Only individuals employed in a New York state department of
7 health authorized toxicology laboratory, operating under the direction
8 of a clinical laboratory director, may obtain a certificate in toxicolo-
9 gy.
10 (c) To qualify for a restricted license, an applicant shall:
11 (i) file an application with the department;
12 (ii) have received an education, including a bachelor's degree in the
13 biological, chemical, or physical sciences or in mathematics from a
14 program registered by the department or determined by the department to
15 be the substantial equivalent;
16 (iii) have completed a training program with a planned sequence of
17 supervised employment or engagement in activities appropriate for the
18 area of certification, which training program is satisfactory to the
19 department in quality, breadth, scope and nature and is provided by an
20 entity that shall be responsible for the services provided. The training
21 program shall be described and attested to by the clinical director of
22 the laboratory in which it is located prior to the beginning of the
23 program. The duration of the training program shall be one year of full-
24 time training in the specific areas in which the applicant is seeking
25 certification or the part-time equivalent thereof, as determined by the
26 department, and the successful completion of such program shall be
27 certified by a laboratory director who is responsible for overseeing
28 such program;
29 (iv) be at least eighteen years of age;
30 (v) be of good moral character as determined by the department; and
31 (vi) pay a fee of one hundred seventy-five dollars for an initial
32 restricted license and a fee of one hundred seventy dollars for each
33 triennial registration period.
34 (d) Each restricted licensee shall register with the department as
35 required of licensees pursuant to section sixty-five hundred two of this
36 title and shall be subject to the disciplinary provisions applicable to
37 licensees pursuant to subarticle three of article one hundred thirty of
38 this title.
39 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
40 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the commissioner of
41 education shall make regulations and take other actions reasonably
42 necessary to implement this act on that date.