Home/Bills/S 6578New York · 2025–2026 Legislative Session

S 6578: Provides that consenting registrants of the adoption information registry may pre-authorize the release of identifying information.

New York · Senate · 2025–2026 Legislative Session · last verified June 23, 2026

What S 6578 does, verified June 23, 2026

The bill amends the Public Health Law to allow the release of identifying information of consenting registrants from the adoption registry. Upon receiving a final consent or pre-authorization consent form, the department will release identifying information to authorized agencies or the consenting registrants themselves. This information will be limited to names and addresses of the consenting registrants, excluding other adoption or birth records. The bill also requires the commissioner to promulgate rules and regulations for creating pre-authorization consent forms. The changes will take effect 30 days after the bill becomes a law.

Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: SUBSTITUTED BY A7840A (2026-05-28)Alert me
Quick answers about S 6578
What is the current status of S 6578?
As of June 23, 2026, S 6578 is recorded as "Passed first house": it has passed the chamber it started in and is now before the second chamber. The last recorded action, on May 28, 2026, was "SUBSTITUTED BY A7840A".
Did S 6578 pass?
Not yet. S 6578 has passed its house of origin and is now before the second chamber, where it needs committee approval and a floor vote.
Who wrote S 6578, and where is it now?
S 6578 was authored by Sen. Michelle Hinchey. It is filed under PBH, alongside 184 other New York PBH bills this session.
Recent actions16 total · showing 5
May. 28, 2026SUBSTITUTED BY A7840A
May. 07, 2026ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
May. 06, 20262ND REPORT CAL.
May. 05, 20261ST REPORT CAL.977
Mar. 06, 2026PRINT NUMBER 6578A
Full action history, 11 earlier actionsConnect Plus
Latest bill textIntroduced version, March 17, 2025 · 452 words
  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6578 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 17, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HINCHEY -- 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 the release of identifying information of consenting registrants from the adoption registry The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 6 of section 4138-c of the public health law, 2 as amended by chapter 181 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 6. Upon receipt of a final consent or if given pre-authorization on 5 the appropriate form by the adoptee, by either of the birth parents, 6 and/or by a biological sibling of the adoptee, the department shall, 7 unless the adoptee or biological sibling registrant shall elect other- 8 wise, if an authorized agency was involved in such adoption, release 9 identifying information to such agency; such agency shall thereafter 10 promptly release identifying information about the consenting regis- 11 trants to the consenting registrants. If no authorized agency was 12 involved, or if any registrant shall have elected not to have release of 13 the information by the authorized agency involved in such adoption the 14 department shall release identifying information to the consenting 15 registrants. Such identifying information shall be limited to the names 16 and addresses of the consenting registrants and shall not include any 17 other information contained in the adoption or birth records. However, 18 nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the release of 19 adoption records as otherwise permitted by law. 20 § 2. Section 206 of the public health law is amended by adding a new 21 subdivision 33 to read as follows: 22 33. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations for the 23 creation of a pre-authorization form to be used by an adoptee, either of 24 the birth parents, and/or a biological sibling to consent to the release EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD11033-01-5 

 S. 6578 2 1 of the consenting registrants' identifying information to the consenting 2 registrants. 3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 4 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 5 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 6 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 7 on or before such effective date. 

Text of S 6578 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions
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