Bill
A 6599
Establishes a state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and a Chief M.E. to standardize and oversee medicolegal investigations, autopsies, and death certification.
Title: Establishes the office of chief medical examiner
Bill number/status: A6599 — PRINT 6599B (amended/reprinted)
Introduced: March 6, 2025
Primary sponsor: Assemblymember Erik Dilan
Cosponsors: Alicia Hyndman; Dana Levenberg; Noah Burroughs; William Colton; Maritza Davila; Phara Souffrant Forrest
Companion bill: S8106 (Senate)
Current procedural status (selected): Referred to Correction (3/6/2025); Printed as A6599A (3/13/2025); Amended and recommitted to Correction and reprinted as A6599B (6/9/2025).
Summary — purpose and intent
- The bill would create a State-level Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The stated purpose (from the bill title and legislative context) is to establish a designated chief medical examiner position/office to centralize, oversee, and standardize medicolegal death investigation functions across the state, improving consistency, independence, and quality of death investigations, autopsies, and death-certification practices.
Key provisions (what the bill is proposing to do)
- Establishment of an Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at the state level (organization/structure and official title).
- Creation/appointment of a Chief Medical Examiner who would have authority over medicolegal death investigations, autopsy protocols, and related forensic operations. The bill likely sets out appointment procedures, qualifications, term or employment status, and grounds for removal (actual text should be consulted for specifics).
- Assignment of duties and powers, which typically include: oversight of death investigations, setting medical and forensic standards, issuing protocols and guidance, supervising forensic pathologists and staff, coordinating with law enforcement and public health agencies, and maintaining records and reporting.
- Transition/coordination provisions, such as relationships to local medical examiners, coroners, municipal offices, and existing forensic facilities; possible transfer of functions or standardization requirements.
- Administrative/operational elements: staffing authority, budget/appropriation language (if included), data/reporting requirements, confidentiality and release of death investigation records, and interactions with criminal justice and public health systems.
Who would be affected
- Local medical examiners/coroners and existing municipal death investigation offices (changes to oversight or standards).
- Forensic pathologists, investigators, and state/local law enforcement who rely on medicolegal findings.
- Families of the deceased (investigative timelines, standards for autopsy and death certification).
- State agencies (public health, corrections, justice) that receive death data or coordinate with death investigations.
- State budget/appropriations if the bill creates new positions or operating costs.
Procedural/timeline notes
- Introduced 3/6/2025 and referred to the Correction Committee. Printed as A6599A on 3/13/2025 after amendment, and subsequently amended and recommitted with a new print A6599B on 6/9/2025. Further committee action would determine whether the bill advances to floor votes and, if passed by both houses and signed by the governor, implementation timelines would be specified in the bill text.
Notes and recommended next steps
- The available materials here do not include the readable full text of A6599B. For precise legal language, appointment criteria, funding, and operational details, consult the official bill text on the New York State Assembly or Legislative Retrieval System (search “A6599 2025”) or review companion S8106 for parallel Senate language.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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