STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          3741
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    February 13, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens. PARKER, KENNEDY, MONTGOMERY, PERSAUD -- read twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on Health
        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the  mental  hygiene  law,  in
          relation  to directing the commissioner of health and the commissioner
          of developmental disabilities  to  promulgate  rules  and  regulations
          requiring  every  child  beginning at the age of eighteen months to be
          examined for autism spectrum disorders; and to repeal  section  2500-j
          of  the  public  health  law relating to screening children for autism
          spectrum disorders
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 2500-j of the public health law is REPEALED.
     2    §  2.  The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2500-l
     3  to read as follows:
     4    § 2500-l. Pediatric wellness visits;  screening  for  autism  spectrum
     5  disorders.  1.  The commissioner shall, jointly with the commissioner of
     6  developmental disabilities, and on or before  May  first,  two  thousand
     7  twenty-one,  promulgate  rules and regulations requiring every pediatric
     8  primary care provider, conducting a wellness and preventative care exam-
     9  ination, on or after September first,  two  thousand  twenty-one,  of  a
    10  child  eighteen  months of age or older, to screen such child for autism
    11  spectrum disorders.
    12    2. In addition, such rules and regulations shall establish  guidelines
    13  and protocols for:
    14    (a)  the  best practices for the screening for and diagnosis of autism
    15  spectrum disorders;
    16    (b) the employment of objective autism spectrum disorder tools; and
    17    (c) the appropriate referral mechanism for children,  who  based  upon
    18  the  results of screening for autism spectrum disorders, require further
    19  evaluation.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08526-01-9
        S. 3741                             2
     1    3. If the commissioner and the commissioner of developmental disabili-
     2  ties shall fail to promulgate, on or  before  May  first,  two  thousand
     3  twenty-one,  the  rules and regulations required by subdivisions one and
     4  two of this section, the department shall adopt and implement the  rele-
     5  vant federal rules and regulations relating thereto.
     6    §  3.  The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 16.39
     7  to read as follows:
     8  § 16.39 Pediatric wellness visits; screening for autism spectrum  disor-
     9            ders.
    10    The  commissioner  shall, jointly with the commissioner of health, and
    11  on or before May first, two thousand twenty-one, promulgate any and  all
    12  rules  and  regulations  required by subdivisions one and two of section
    13  twenty-five hundred-l of the public health law relating to the screening
    14  of children for autism spectrum disorders.
    15    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately, except that  section  one
    16  of this act shall take effect September 1, 2021.