Bill > S07818

This bill amends the county law to expand the authority of the state commissioner of health by explicitly allowing them to designate local health officials as authorized requesters of death-related reports and records. Currently, the law permits the commissioner or their designee to request copies of death-related documents such as autopsy and toxicology reports from coroners, coroner's physicians, or medical examiners, who must provide these documents within three business days of completion. The key change is the specific inclusion of local health officials as potential designees who can request these sensitive medical documents for official state health department purposes. The bill also updates the language to use gender-neutral terminology, replacing "his or her" with "their" throughout the text. This modification aims to provide more flexibility to local health authorities in accessing important medical information that could be relevant to public health investigations or research.

Government Affairs

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S7818