Section 6956. Prior nurse-midwifery certification

Any individual who is
  certified as a nurse-midwife pursuant  to  section  twenty-five  hundred
  sixty  of  the  public  health  law  before June first, nineteen hundred
  ninety-six, shall be deemed to be  licensed  as  a  midwife  under  this
  article; provided that each such certified nurse-midwife shall, prior to
  that  date,  submit  evidence  of  such  certification to the department
  together with the appropriate  fee  required  by  subdivision  seven  of
  section  sixty-nine  hundred  fifty-five of this article. Any individual
  certified as a nurse-midwife pursuant  to  section  twenty-five  hundred
  sixty of the public health law (i) may practice under that section until
  it  is  repealed,  but  (ii) shall not practice pursuant to this article
  until after receiving approval from the commissioner and submitting  the
  fee   required  by  subdivision  seven  of  section  sixty-nine  hundred
  fifty-five of this article.