S 5712: Requires any elected or appointed coroner who is not a licensed physician to be a certified nurse practitioner or licensed physician assistant authorized to practice medicine in this state.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5712 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 28, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government AN ACT to amend the county law, in relation to coroner qualifications The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 400 of the county law is amended by adding a new 2 subdivision 3-c to read as follows: 3 3-c. Coroner qualifications. Any elected or appointed coroner who is 4 not a physician duly licensed to practice medicine shall be a certified 5 nurse practitioner or licensed physician assistant authorized to prac- 6 tice pursuant to title eight of the education law, or shall be a certi- 7 fied medicolegal death investigator or hold an associate's or bachelor's 8 degree in nursing, natural science, forensic science, anthropology or 9 other related field while pursuing certification from the American board 10 of medicolegal death investigators or similar professional organization. 11 Any coroner who is not so licensed or certified, or who does not have 12 such degree while pursuing such certification as of the effective date 13 of this subdivision may finish out their term. 14 § 2. Subdivision 4-b of section 400 of the county law, as added by 15 chapter 897 of the laws of 1962, is amended to read as follows: 16 4-b. Coroner's physician. Except in counties where the office of 17 coroner has been abolished, the board of supervisors may appoint one or 18 more coroner's physicians or may provide by local law for the appoint- 19 ment of one or more coroner's physicians, and may fix the terms of their 20 office. In any county in which the coroner or any of the coroners is 21 not a physician duly licensed to practice medicine in this state, the 22 board shall appoint one or more coroner's physicians. 23 Each coroner's physician appointed pursuant to this subdivision must 24 be a physician duly licensed to practice medicine in this state and 25 shall by virtue of [his] their office be a deputy coroner and shall 26 possess the powers and perform the duties of the coroner, during the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09861-01-5 
 S. 5712 2 1 absence or inability of the coroner to act, or in the event of a vacancy 2 in the office of coroner. 3 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 4 law.