Bill Text: NY A10500 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Provides for the confidentiality of contact tracing information from the identification of individuals who have come in contact with an individual with a confirmed or probable diagnosis of novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 48-2)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-23 - approval memo.69 [A10500 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A10500-Amended.html
Bill Title: Provides for the confidentiality of contact tracing information from the identification of individuals who have come in contact with an individual with a confirmed or probable diagnosis of novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 48-2)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-23 - approval memo.69 [A10500 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A10500-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 10500--A IN ASSEMBLY May 22, 2020 ___________ Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Gottfried, Paulin, Dinowitz, Jaffee, McDonald, Galef, Simon, Ashby) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the confidentiali- ty of contact tracing information The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Article 21 of the public health law is amended by adding a 2 new title 8 to read as follows: 3 TITLE 8 4 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19 5 Section 2180. Definitions. 6 2181. COVID-19 contact tracing; confidential. 7 2182. Regulations. 8 § 2180. Definitions. As used in this title the following terms shall 9 have the following meanings: 10 1. "Contact tracing" means case investigation and identification of 11 contact individuals. 12 2. "Contact tracer" and "contact tracing entity" means an individual 13 or entity employed by or under contract with the state, a local govern- 14 ment, a state or local governmental entity, or an agent thereof, to 15 conduct contact tracing, engaged in contact tracing, or receiving 16 contact tracing information. 17 3. "Contact tracing information" means any information that includes 18 or can reveal the identity of any principal individual or contact indi- 19 vidual, as well as any COVID-19-related test results, received or 20 collected for the purpose or in the course of contact tracing. 21 4. "Contact individual" means an individual who has or may have come 22 in contact with a principal individual or who has or may have been 23 exposed to and possibly infected with COVID-19. 24 5. "Principal individual" means an individual with a confirmed or 25 probable diagnosis of COVID-19. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD16487-03-0A. 10500--A 2 1 6. "COVID-19" means infection with or the disease caused by the severe 2 acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). 3 7. "Immigration authority" means any entity, officer, employee, or 4 government employee or agent thereof charged with enforcement of the 5 federal Immigration and Nationality Act, including the United States 6 Immigration and Customs Enforcement or United States Customs and Border 7 Protection, or any successor legislation or entity. 8 8. "De-identified" means, in relation to contact tracing information, 9 that the information cannot identify or be made to identify or be asso- 10 ciated with a particular individual, directly or indirectly and is 11 subject to technical safeguards and policies and procedures that prevent 12 re-identification, whether intentionally or unintentionally, of any 13 individual. 14 § 2181. COVID-19 contact tracing; confidential. 1. All contact trac- 15 ing information shall be kept confidential by any contact tracer and 16 contact tracing entity, and may not be disclosed except as necessary to 17 carry out contact tracing. 18 2. A person may only waive the confidentiality provided for by this 19 section by a written, informed and voluntary waiver, in plain language 20 and not part of any other document. The waiver shall state the scope and 21 limit of the waiver. If a person lacks the capacity to make a waiver, a 22 person authorized to consent to health care for the person, or the 23 person's legal representative, may make the waiver. 24 3. A disclosure of contact tracing information authorized under this 25 section shall be limited in scope as to the identity of any individual, 26 the information to be disclosed, and the party to which disclosure may 27 be made, and as necessary to achieve the purpose of the disclosure under 28 this section, and shall not authorize re-disclosure except as explicitly 29 authorized. However, this section does not bar disclosure of contact 30 tracing information pertaining to and identifying a principal individual 31 or contact individual by that individual. 32 4. (a) This section does not bar otherwise-lawful disclosure of 33 contact tracing information, including aggregate contact tracing infor- 34 mation, that is de-identified. Disclosure under this subdivision shall 35 only be for a public health or public health research purpose. 36 (b) A person or entity may only use de-identified contact tracing 37 information if the person or entity maintains technical safeguards and 38 policies and procedures that prevent re-identification, whether inten- 39 tionally or unintentionally, of any individual. 40 (c) Disclosure under this subdivision shall be only pursuant to 41 approval by the commissioner (or the New York city commissioner of 42 health and mental hygiene in the case of contact tracing information 43 collected by or under authority of the New York city department of 44 health and mental hygiene or the New York City health and hospitals 45 corporation) specifying the purpose, nature and scope of the disclosure 46 and measures to ensure that it will comply with this section and the 47 terms of the approval. 48 5. No law enforcement agent or entity (other than an entity defined in 49 section two of this chapter or an agent thereof) or immigration authori- 50 ty shall be a contact tracer or contact tracing entity or engage in 51 contact tracing. 52 6. No contact tracer or contact tracing entity may provide contact 53 tracing information to a law enforcement agent or entity (other than an 54 entity defined in section two of this chapter or an agent thereof) or 55 immigration authority. Without consent under subdivision two of this 56 section, contact tracing information and any evidence derived therefromA. 10500--A 3 1 shall not be subject to or provided in response to any legal process or 2 be admissible for any purpose in any judicial or administrative action 3 or proceeding. 4 7. A contact tracer or contact tracing entity shall cause all contact 5 tracing information it receives or collects and that is in its 6 possession or control to be expunged or de-identified within thirty days 7 of the date the contact tracer or contact tracing entity receives or 8 collects it. 9 § 2182. Regulations. The commissioner shall make regulations imple- 10 menting this title. 11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
