L.L. 2009/055
Enactment date: 9/3/2009
Int. No. 859-A
By The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum) and Council Members Brewer, James, Liu, Palma, Sanders Jr., Gerson, White Jr., Gioia, Arroyo, Mendez, Gonzalez, Eugene, Rivera, Ferreras, Jackson, Baez, Mark-Viverito, Weprin, Reyna, Sears, Barron, Koppell, de Blasio, Dickens, Stewart, Vann and Nelson
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the provision of language assistance services in pharmacies.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. New York is a multilingual city where more than 150 languages are spoken, almost half of the residents speak a language other than English at home and nearly a quarter do not speak English very well. Prescription medications typically include technical instructions, restrictions and warnings that are critical for the consumer to understand in order to use the product safely. A customer's inability to understand medication labels and instructions easily can cause errors in usage and thereby significantly endanger the health of limited English proficient residents. The difficulties limited English proficient New Yorkers may experience in communicating with their pharmacists could be greatly alleviated by the provision of interpretation services and translated medication labels.
New Yorkers who have limited English proficiency are not receiving the interpretations and translations they need. A 2007 study of pharmacies in New York City by the New York Academy of Medicine found that, although 88 percent of surveyed New York City pharmacists reported serving customers with limited English proficiency daily and 80 percent had the ability to translate medication labels, only 34 percent reported actually translating such labels daily. More than a quarter of the surveyed pharmacists never translate labels.
Thus, the Council finds that the lack of interpretation and translation services in pharmacies inhibits the fair and effective sale of prescription medications, posing a significant risk to the health and safety of New Yorkers and that it would be in the public interest to ensure that all residents, regardless of the language they speak, understand their medication labels and instructions.
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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]
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§ 3. Effect of invalidity; severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or other portion of this local law is, for any reason, declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed severable, and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this local law, which remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.
§ 4. This local law shall take effect two hundred and seventy days after its enactment into law, provided that the department may promulgate any rules necessary for implementing and carrying out the provisions of this local law prior to its effective date.