S1408-2011 Actions

• Jun 20, 2011: SUBSTITUTED BY A2812
• Jun 16, 2011: ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1336
• Jun 13, 2011: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
• Jun 2, 2011: REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
• Jan 7, 2011: REFERRED TO HEALTH

S1408-2011 Meetings

S1408-2011 Calendars

S1408-2011 Votes

S1408-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S1408

TITLE OF BILL:

An act
to amend the public health law, in relation to administering
the hepatitis
B immunization to minors housed in a state or local correctional
facility

PURPOSE:

To ensure that minors in correctional facilities have access to the
Hepatitis B vaccine.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill creates a new section 2504-a in the public health law that
would allow a health care practitioner to administer the hepatitis B
vaccine to a person who resides in a state or local correctional
facility and is under the age of 18 without the consent or knowledge
of the parent or guardian of that person, if that person has the
capacity to consent and consents to the immunization. This
legislation defines "health care practitioner" and "capacity to
consent" for the purposes of this section.

EXISTING LAW:

Public Health Law section 2305 provides for exceptions to parental
consent for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to
minors.

JUSTIFICATION:

As noted above, public health law section 2305 provides for exceptions
to parental consent for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases

(STDs) to minors because minors are often reluctant to seek parental
consent, thereby disclosing to their parents that they have been
sexually active. Without this exception, many STDs would go
untreated. The same exception should apply to immunization against
hepatitis B, because high-risk sexual behavior and intravenous drug
use are recognized as the primary models of hepatitis B transmission.

The change proposed in this bill is specific to correctional settings
where attempts to obtain parental consent have not yielded results
and many adolescents are left unprotected from this communicable
disease. In 2003 the Centers for Disease control issued a report that
strongly recommended that "all juveniles who receive a medical
evaluation in a correctional facility should be administered the
hepatitis B vaccine, unless they have proof of completion of the
vaccine series or serologic evidence of immunity to infection. The
vaccine series should be started for those juveniles who have never
been vaccinated, irrespective of
their length of stay, and the series should be completed for those
incompetently immunized."


To make a minor's immunization contingent on parental consent clearly
hampers efforts to control the spread of the disease, which was
previously recognized and addressed in State law for STDs. Allowing
administration of hepatitis vaccine without parental consent is
already law in several states.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.5547 of 2007-2008
S.6745 of 2009-2010 (Passed Assembly)

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.

S1408-2011 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         1408
 2011-2012 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 January 7, 2011
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
 

AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to administering  the
 hepatitis  B immunization to minors housed in a state or local correc
 tional facility
 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section  1.  The  public health law is amended by adding a new section
 2504-a to read as follows:

 

S 2504-A. HEPATITIS B IMMUNIZATION OF A MINOR. 1. A HEALTH CARE  PRAC
 TITIONER  MAY  ADMINISTER  IMMUNIZATION  AGAINST HEPATITIS B TO A PERSON
 UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS WITHOUT THE CONSENT OR KNOWLEDGE OF  THE
 PARENTS  OR  GUARDIAN  OF  SAID  PERSON,  IF SAID PERSON HAS CAPACITY TO
 CONSENT AND CONSENTS TO THE IMMUNIZATION, AND SAID PERSON IS HOUSED IN A
 STATE OR LOCAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.
 2. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION:

 (A) THE TERM "HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER" SHALL MEAN A PERSON  LICENSED,
 CERTIFIED  OR  OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED TO PRACTICE UNDER TITLE EIGHT OF THE
 EDUCATION LAW, ACTING WITHIN HIS OR HER LAWFUL SCOPE OF PRACTICE; AND
 (B) THE TERM "CAPACITY TO CONSENT" SHALL MEAN AN INDIVIDUAL'S ABILITY,
 DETERMINED WITHOUT REGARD TO THE INDIVIDUAL'S  AGE,  TO  UNDERSTAND  AND
 APPRECIATE THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROPOSED IMMUNIZATION, AND
 TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION CONCERNING THE IMMUNIZATION.
 

S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD01514-01-1

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