Section 502. Environmental laboratories; examinations; certificates of approval

1.  For  the  purposes  of   this   section,   "environmental
  laboratory"  is  any  facility  that  examines  or  is available for the
  examination of samples or specimens including, but not limited to:  air,
  stack   emissions,  water,  wastewater,  surface  water,  ground  water,
  recreational waters, swimming pools, leachate, land runoff, solid waste,
  hazardous  waste,  soil,  sediments  and  vegetation,  as  well  as  any
  substance  that  could  contribute  to the pollution of or that could be
  contaminated by material contained in such samples  or  specimens.  Such
  examinations  shall  be  limited  to  the  qualitative  or  quantitative
  determinations of the biological, chemical,  radiochemical  or  physical
  characteristics  of such samples or specimens for the purposes of public
  or personal health protection or the protection of  the  environment  or
  natural   resources.   Environmental   laboratories  shall  not  include
  non-laboratory  chemical  testing  associated  with  residential   water
  softeners and residential swimming pools.
    2.  No environmental laboratory may perform any examination on samples
  collected in the state of New York for which the commissioner  issues  a
  certificate  of  approval for such examination unless the laboratory has
  been issued such certificate of approval. Such  laboratory  examinations
  shall conform to any conditions under which the approval is granted.
    3. The commissioner may issue to laboratories certificates of approval
  covering laboratory examinations, including but not limited to, specific
  procedures  or  specialities  within  such  categories  as  wastewaters,
  potable waters, sediments, solid wastes, and air, and may prescribe  the
  conditions  under which such approvals will be granted.  Notwithstanding
  any other conditions which he may prescribe, such an approval shall  not
  be issued hereafter to a laboratory, not heretofore approved, unless the
  director  or  other  person in charge of such examinations shall possess
  such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner  shall
  prescribe.
    4. No state agency, authority, county, city, including the city of New
  York,  town,  village, water district, sewer district or other political
  subdivision  of  the  state  shall  contract  with  any  laboratory  for
  laboratory  examinations  for which the commissioner issues certificates
  of approval pursuant to subdivision three of this section,  unless  such
  laboratory has been issued such certificate.
    5.  Subject  to  the  approval  of  the  director  of  the budget, the
  commissioner shall charge adequate and reasonable fees for the  periodic
  inspection of out-of-state laboratories.
    6.  Subject  to  the  approval  of  the  director  of  the budget, the
  commissioner shall charge laboratories fees to recover the cost  to  the
  department  of operating this program. The commissioner may waive all or
  any part of such fee charges for laboratories  operated  by  the  state.
  Fees shall include the following:
    (a)  a  basic  amount  of  five  hundred dollars to be charged to each
  laboratory;
    (b) the balance of the program cost from:
    (1) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional
  to total adjusted volume of analytes performed by the laboratory in  the
  preceding  year  as  defined in regulations of the department, the total
  amount collected from which shall equal fifty percent of the balance  of
  the program costs;
    (2) an additional amount to be charged to each laboratory proportional
  to  the  number  of  analytes  for  which  such laboratory maintains its
  certification.
    Subparagraph one of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not  apply
  to government laboratories.

    7.  (a)  The  commissioner  shall appoint an advisory board that shall
  make recommendations to the commissioner for improving the program.  The
  deliberations  and  recommendations  of the advisory board shall include
  but not be limited to the following areas: means of reducing  costs  and
  duplication  of certification and the feasibility and cost effectiveness
  of reciprocity with other laboratory approval programs.
    (b) The advisory board shall consist of seven members, each who  shall
  be,  by professional training or experience and attainment, qualified to
  analyze  and  interpret  matters  pertaining  to   the   operation   and
  certification  of  laboratories  subject  to  this section. At least one
  member shall be a representative from a private  commercial  laboratory;
  at  least  one  shall  be  a  representative  from a county or municipal
  laboratory; at least one  shall  be  a  representative  from  a  private
  non-commercial  laboratory;  and  at least one shall be a representative
  from the state department of environmental conservation.
    (c) The advisory board shall meet as often as their duties necessitate
  and members shall serve without compensation but shall be allowed  their
  actual  and  necessary  expenses  incurred  in  the performance of their
  duties hereunder.
    (d) Within six months of the effective date of this  subdivision,  the
  commissioner  shall  report  to  the  legislature  on the feasibility of
  reducing costs and duplication of certification and the feasibility  and
  cost  effectiveness  of  reciprocity  agreements  with  other laboratory
  approval programs.
    8. For those categories, procedures or specialities  as  specified  in
  subdivision  three for which the commissioner has issued certificates of
  approval, the commissioner shall within thirty days  of  receipt  of  an
  application  for  a  certificate from a laboratory existing on or before
  April first, nineteen hundred ninety-three, which is initially  required
  to  obtain  certification,  review such application and issue an interim
  certificate  of  approval  in  the  particular  category,  procedure  or
  speciality  to  all laboratories which provide adequate documentation in
  their application that they are capable of performing  quality  work  in
  the   category,   procedure  or  speciality  under  review.  An  interim
  certificate of approval in specified categories will remain valid  until
  such  time  as  the  commissioner  shall  reach  a  determination on the
  application.
    9. The commissioner may adopt  and  amend  rules  and  regulations  to
  effectuate the provisions and purposes of this title.
    10.  A person who intentionally violates or refuses or omits to comply
  with subdivision two of this section, or any regulation adopted pursuant
  thereto, is guilty of a  misdemeanor,  punishable  upon  conviction,  by
  imprisonment  for  not  more than one year or by a fine of not more than
  one thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.  A second or
  subsequent conviction shall be punishable by imprisonment for  not  more
  than  one  year  or  a  fine  of not more than two thousand five hundred
  dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.